Presentation-Secrets-Of-Steve-Jobs

The PresentationSecrets ofSteve JobsHow to BeInsanely Greatin Front of Any AudienceCarmine GalloColumnist, Businessweek.comNew York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico CityMilan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto

Copyright © 2010 by Carmine Gallo. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under theUnited States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributedin any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, withoutthe prior written permission of the publisher.ISBN: 978-0-07-163675-9MHID: 0-07-163675-7The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-163608-7,MHID: 0-07-163608-0.All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademarksymbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashiononly, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement ofthe trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed withinitial caps.McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums andsales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. To contact a representativeplease e-mail us at bulksales@mcgraw-hill.com.TERMS OF USEThis is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“McGraw-Hill”) andits licensors reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms.Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve onecopy of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify,create derivative works based upon, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish orsublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hill’s prior consent. You may use thework for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictlyprohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with theseterms.THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKENO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY ORCOMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK,INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THEWORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANYWARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TOIMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICU-LAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that thefunctions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will beuninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you oranyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or forany damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of anyinformation accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/orits licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similardamages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them hasbeen advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply toany claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort orotherwise.

To my father, Franco, an insanely great manwho has lived an extraordinary life

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CONTENTSCO NTE NTSAcknowledgmentsPrologue: How to Be Insanely Greatin Front of Any AudienceviiixACT 1 CREATE THE STORY 1SCENE 1 Plan in Analog 3SCENE 2 Answer the One Question That Matters Most 15SCENE 3 Develop a Messianic Sense of Purpose 27SCENE 4 Create Twitter-Like Headlines 39SCENE 5 Draw a Road Map 49SCENE 6 Introduce the Antagonist 63SCENE 7 Reveal the Conquering Hero 75INTERMISSION 1 Obey the Ten-Minute Rule 83ACT 2 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE 85SCENE 8 Channel Their Inner Zen 87SCENE 9 Dress Up Your Numbers 105SCENE 10 Use “Amazingly Zippy” Words 113SCENE 11 Share the Stage 127SCENE 12 Stage Your Presentation with Props 137SCENE 13 Reveal a “Holy Shit” Moment 151INTERMISSION 2 Schiller Learns from the Best 161ACT 3 REFINE AND REHEARSE 165SCENE 14 Master Stage Presence 167SCENE 15 Make It Look Effortless 179SCENE 16 Wear the Appropriate Costume 195SCENE 17 Toss the Script 199SCENE 18 Have Fun 207Encore: One More Thing 215Notes 219Index 233v

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DGMENTSACKNOWLEDGMENTSACKNOWLEThis book is a collaborative effort. The content tookshape with the help of family, colleagues, and theamazing staff at McGraw-Hill. Big thanks to my editor,John Aherne, for his enthusiasm and counsel, andto Kenya Henderson, for making it all happen! McGraw-Hilldesign, marketing, and public relations staff are among the bestin the book publishing industry. I’m honored they share myexcitement about the subject.My wife, Vanessa, manages our business at Gallo CommunicationsGroup. She worked tirelessly to prepare the manuscript.How she found the time between juggling our business and caringfor our two children is beyond the scope of “mere mortals.”Many thanks to my editor at BusinessWeek.com, Nick Leiber,who always seems to find a way to improve my columns. Asalways, thank you, Ed Knappman, my encouraging agent atNew England Publishing Associates. Ed’s knowledge and insightare second to none.I owe thanks to my parents, Franco and Giuseppina, for theirunwavering support. Thank you, Tino, Donna, Francesco, Nick,Patty, Ken, and many other close friends and family memberswho understood why I couldn’t be around or why I had to skipgolf on weekends. Back to the course!My girls, Josephine and Lela. You are Daddy’s inspiration. Allyour patience during Daddy’s absence will be rewarded with aninsanely great visit to Chuck E. Cheese.vii

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PROLOGUEPRO LOGUEHow to BeInsanely Greatin Front ofAny AudienceA person can have the greatest idea in the world—completely different and novel—but if that person can’tconvince enough other people, it doesn’t matter.—GREGORY BERNSSteve Jobs is the most captivating communicator on theworld stage. No one else comes close. A Jobs presentationunleashes a rush of dopamine into the brains ofhis audience. Some people go to great lengths to get thishit, even spending the night in freezing temperatures to ensurethe best seat at one of his speeches. When they don’t get thatbuzz, they go through withdrawals. How else do you explainthe fact that some fans threatened to protest Jobs’s absence froma conference he had keynoted for years? That’s what happenedwhen Apple announced that Jobs would not deliver his traditionalkeynote presentation at Macworld Expo in 2009. (Applealso announced that it would be the last year in which the companywould participate in this annual trade show produced byBoston-based IDG World Expo.)ix

x PROLOGUEApple vice president Phil Schiller filled in for the legendarypresenter. The expectations were nearly impossible to meet, butSchiller performed admirably precisely because he used many ofJobs’s techniques. Nevertheless, Jobs was missed. “The sun is settingon the first generation of rebellious whiz kids who inventedthe PC, commercialized the Internet, and grew their companiesinto powerhouses,” wrote reporter Jon Fortt. 1A Steve Jobs keynote presentation is an extraordinary experience,and he doesn’t give many of them. Although fans,investors, and customers hope to see more of him at Appleevents, given his leave of absence in 2009 for medical reasonsand Apple’s withdrawal from Macworld Expo, there might befewer opportunities to see a master at a craft he has honed formore than three decades. (It was later confirmed that Jobs hadundergone a successful liver transplant and would return towork.) This book captures the best of Jobs’s presentations andreveals, for the first time, the exact techniques he uses to inspirehis audience. Best of all, you can learn his skills and adopt histechniques to blow away your audience, giving people a highthey will crave again and again.Watch a Macworld keynote—“Stevenotes,” as they areknown among the Mac faithful—and you will begin to reconsidereverything about your current presentations: what you say,how you say it, and what your audience sees when you say it. Iwrote a column about Steve Jobs and his presentation skills forBusinessWeek.com. It quickly became hugely popular aroundthe world (Daniel Lyons, aka “Fake Steve Jobs,” even featured it).It appealed to Mac and PC owners alike who wanted to improvethe way they sell themselves and their ideas. A select few readershad seen Jobs in person, while others had watched video ofJobs online, but the vast majority of readers had never seen himgive a keynote. What they learned was eye-opening and forcedmany of them to go back to the proverbial drawing board.For educational purposes, use YouTube as a complement tothe techniques revealed in the pages to follow. At this writing,there are more than 35,000 clips of Steve Jobs on YouTube, a farlarger number than for most other high-profile CEOs, includingVirgin’s Richard Branson (1,000), Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer

PROLOGUE xi(940), and the former head of General Electric, Jack Welch (175).In this case, YouTube offers a rare opportunity to read about aparticular individual, learn about specific techniques that makehim successful, and see those techniques in action.What you’ll learn is that Jobs is a magnetic pitchman whosells his ideas with a flair that turns prospects into customersand customers into evangelists. He has charisma, definedby the German sociologist Max Weber as “a certain quality ofan individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apartfrom ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural,superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers orqualities.” 2 Jobs has become superhuman among his most loyalfans. But Weber got one thing wrong. Weber believed that charismawas not “accessible to the ordinary person.” Once youlearn exactly how Jobs crafts and delivers one of his famous presentations,you will realize that these exceptional powers areavailable to you as well. If you adopt just some of his techniques,yours will stand out from the legions of mediocre presentationsdelivered on any given day. Your competitors and colleagueswill look like amateurs in comparison.“Presentations have become the de facto business communicationtool,” writes presentation design guru Nancy Duartein Slide:ology. “Companies are started, products are launched,climate systems are saved—possibly based on the quality of presentations.Likewise, ideas, endeavors, and even careers can becut short due to ineffective communication. Out of the millionsof presentations delivered each day, only a small percentage aredelivered well.” 3Duarte transformed Al Gore’s 35 mm slides into the awardwinningdocumentary An Inconvenient Truth. As with Al Gore,who sits on Apple’s board, Steve Jobs uses presentations as atransformative experience. Both men are revolutionizing businesscommunications and have something to teach us, butwhere Gore has one famous presentation repeated a thousandtimes, Jobs has been giving awe-inspiring presentations since thelaunch of the Macintosh in 1984. In fact, the Macintosh launch,which you will read about in the pages to follow, is still oneof the most dramatic presentations in the history of corporate

xiiPROLOGUEAmerica. I find it amazing that Jobs has actually improved hispresentation style in the twenty-five years since the launch.The 1984 presentation was tough to beat—one of the greatestpresentations of our time. Still, Jobs’s keynotes at the MacworldExpo in 2007 and 2008 were his best ever. Everything that hehad learned about connecting with audiences came together tocreate truly magnificent moments.Now the bad news. Your presentations are being compared withthose of Steve Jobs. He has transformed the typical, dull, technical,plodding slide show into a theatrical event complete with heroes,villains, a supporting cast, and stunning backdrops. People whowitness a Steve Jobs presentation for the first time describe it asan extraordinary experience. In a Los Angeles Times article aboutJobs’s medical leave, Michael Hiltzik wrote: “No American CEO ismore intimately identified with his company’s success . . . Jobs isApple’s visionary and carnival barker. If you want a taste of the latterpersona, watch the video of the original iPod launch event inOctober 2001. Jobs’s dramatic command is astonishing. Viewingthe event recently on YouTube, I was on the edge of my seat, eventhough I knew how the story came out.” 4 Jobs is the Tiger Woodsof business, raising the bar for the rest of us.Now the good news. You can identify and adopt each ofJobs’s techniques to keep your audience members at the edge oftheir seats. Tapping into his qualities will help you create yourown magnificent presentations and give you the tools to sellyour ideas far more persuasively than you have ever imagined.Consider The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs your road mapto presentation success. It’s as close as you will ever get to havingJobs speak directly in your ear as you present the valuebehind your service, product, company, or cause. Whether youare a CEO launching a new product, an entrepreneur pitchinginvestors, a sales professional closing a deal, or an educator tryingto inspire a class, Jobs has something to teach you. Mostbusiness professionals give presentations to deliver information.Not Jobs. A Steve Jobs presentation is intended to createan experience—“a reality distortion field”—that leaves his audienceawed, inspired, and wildly excited.

PROLOGUE xiiiMoving On UpAs soon as you move one step up from the bottom, your effectivenessdepends on your ability to reach others through the spokenand written word. 5—PETER DRUCKERSome of the most common terms used to describe Steve Jobs are“seductive,” “magnetic,” “captivating,” and “charismatic.” Otherterms, typically related to his interpersonal traits, are less flattering.Jobs is a complicated man who creates extraordinary products, cultivatesintense loyalty, and also scares the shit out of people. He isa passionate perfectionist and a visionary, two qualities that createa combustible combination when the way things are do not matchthe way Jobs believes they should be. This book is not intended totackle everything about Steve Jobs. It is neither a biography of theman nor a history of Apple. This book is not about Jobs the boss,but about Jobs the communicator. And although the book willhelp you create far more effective presentations, it leaves the art ofpresentation design to more qualified authors whose life work isdedicated to the field of graphic design. (For more references, tips,and video clips of the presentations cited throughout the book, visitcarminegallo.com.) What the book does offer is the most thoroughbreakdown of exactly how Jobs crafts and delivers the story behindthe Apple brand. You will learn how Jobs does all of the following:» Crafts messages» Presents ideas» Generates excitement for a product or feature» Delivers a memorable experience» Creates customer evangelistsThe techniques will help you create your own “insanely great”presentations. The lessons are remarkably simple to learn, butapplying them is up to you. Speaking the way Steve speaks

xivPROLOGUErequires work, but the benefit to your career, company, and personalsuccess will be well worth your commitment.Why Not Me?When I appeared on CNBC’s “The Big Idea with DonnyDeutsch,” I was struck by the host’s infectious energy. Deutschoffered his viewers this piece of advice: “When you see someonewho has turned his passion into a profit, ask yourself, ‘Why notme?’ ” 6 I urge you to do the same. When you read about Jobs inthe pages to follow, ask yourself, “Why not me? Why can’t I energizemy listeners like Jobs?” The answer is, “You can.” As you’lllearn, Jobs is not a natural. He works at it. Although he alwayshad a theatrical flair, his style has evolved and improved overthe years. Jobs is relentlessly focused on improvement, laboringover every slide, every demo, and every detail of a presentation.Each presentation tells a story, and every slide reveals a scene.Jobs is a showman and, as with all great actors, he rehearsesuntil he gets it right. “Be a yardstick of quality,” Jobs once said.“Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence isexpected.” 7 There are no shortcuts to excellence. Presenting likeJobs will require planning and practice, but if you are committedto reaching the top, there is no better teacher than Apple’smaster showman. (See Figure 1.)Performance in Three ActsThe Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is structured like one of Jobs’sfavorite presentation metaphors: a three-act play. In fact, a SteveJobs presentation is very much like a dramatic play—a finelycrafted and well-rehearsed performance that informs, entertains,and inspires. When Jobs introduced the video iPod onOctober 12, 2005, he chose the California Theatre in San Jose ashis stage. It was an appropriate setting as Steve divided the productintroductions into three acts, “like every classic story.” In act1, he introduced the new iMac G5 with built-in video camera.Act 2 kicked off the release of the fifth-generation iPod, whichplayed video content for the first time. In act 3, he talked about

PROLOGUE xvFigure 1 Apple’s master showman turns presentations intotheatrical experiences.Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesiTunes 6, with the news that ABC would make television showsavailable for iTunes and the new video iPod. Jobs even introducedjazz legend Wynton Marsalis as an encore.In keeping with Jobs’s metaphor of a presentation as a classicstory, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is divided into threeacts:» Act 1: Create the Story. The seven chapters—or scenes—inthis section will give you practical tools to craft an excitingstory behind your brand. A strong story will give you the confidenceand ability to win over your audience.» Act 2: Deliver the Experience. In these six scenes, you willlearn practical tips to turn your presentations into visuallyappealing and “must-have” experiences.» Act 3: Refine and Rehearse. The remaining five scenes willtackle topics such as body language, verbal delivery, and making“scripted” presentations sound natural and conversational.Even your choice of wardrobe will be addressed. You will learnwhy mock turtlenecks, jeans, and running shoes are suitablefor Jobs but could mean the end of your career.

xviPROLOGUEShort intermissions divide the acts. These intermissions containnuggets of great information culled from the latest findingsin cognitive research and presentation design. These findingswill help you take your presentations to an entirely new level.What Are You Really Selling?Jobs is “the master at taking something that might be consideredboring—a hunk of electronic hardware—and envelopingit in a story that made it compellingly dramatic,” writes AlanDeutschman in The Second Coming of Steve Jobs. 8 Only a handfulof leaders whom I have had the pleasure of meeting havethis skill, the ability to turn seemingly boring items into excitingbrand stories. Cisco CEO John Chambers is one of them.Chambers does not sell routers and switches that make up thebackbone of the Internet. What Chambers does sell is humanconnections that change the way we live, work, play, and learn.The most inspiring communicators share this quality—theability to create something meaningful out of esoteric or everydayproducts. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz does not sell coffee.He sells a “third place” between work and home. Financialguru Suze Orman does not sell trusts and mutual funds. Shesells the dream of financial freedom. In the same way, Jobs doesnot sell computers. He sells tools to unleash human potential.Throughout this book, ask yourself, “What am I really selling?”Remember, your widget doesn’t inspire. Show me how your widgetimproves my life, and you’ve won me over. Do it in a waythat entertains me, and you’ll have created a true evangelist.Along the way, you’ll also discover that Steve Jobs is motivatedby a messianic zeal to change the world, to put a “dent in the universe.”In order for these techniques to work, you must cultivate aprofound sense of mission. If you are passionate about your topic,you’re 80 percent closer to developing the magnetism that Jobshas. From the age of twenty-one when Jobs cofounded Apple withhis friend Steve Wozniak, Jobs fell in love with the vision of howpersonal computing would change society, education, and enter-

PROLOGUE xviitainment. His passion was contagious, infecting everyone in hispresence. That passion comes across in every presentation.We all have passions that drive us. The purpose of this bookis to help you capture that passion and turn it into a story somesmerizing that people will want to help you achieve yourvision. You see, it’s quite possible that your ideas or productsvastly improve the lives of your customers—from computers,to automobiles, to financial services, to products that create acleaner environment—but the greatest product in the world willbe useless without a strong brand evangelist to promote it. Ifyou cannot get people to care, your product will never standa chance of success. Your audience will not care, they will notunderstand, nor will they be interested. People do not pay attentionto boring things. Do not let your ideas die because youfailed to present them in a way that sparked the imagination ofyour listeners. Use Jobs’s techniques to reach the hearts and theminds of everyone you hope to influence.As Jobs often says to kick off a presentation, “Now let’s getstarted.”

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ACT ICreatethe StoryCreating the story, the plot, is the first step to sellingyour ideas with power, persuasion, and charisma.Succeeding at this step separates mediocre communicatorsfrom extraordinary ones. Most people failto think through their story. Effective communicators planeffectively, develop compelling messages and headlines, makeit easy for their listeners to follow the narrative, and introducea common enemy to build the drama. The seven chapters—orscenes—in Act 1 will help set the foundation for presentationsuccess. Each scene will be followed by a short summary of specificand tangible lessons you can easily apply today. Let’s reviewthe scenes here:» SCENE 1: “Plan in Analog.” In this chapter, you will learn howtruly great presenters such as Steve Jobs visualize, plan, andcreate ideas well before they open the presentation software.» SCENE 2: “Answer the One Question That Matters Most.”Your listeners are asking themselves one question and onequestion only: “Why should I care?” Disregard this question,and your audience will dismiss you.» SCENE 3: “Develop a Messianic Sense of Purpose.” SteveJobs was worth more than $100 million by the time he was1

2 CREATE THE STORYtwenty-five, and it didn’t matter to him. Understanding thisone fact will help you unlock the secret behind Jobs’s extraordinarycharisma.» SCENE 4: “Create Twitter-Like Headlines.” The socialnetworking site has changed the way we communicate.Developing headlines that fit into 140-character sentences willhelp you sell your ideas more persuasively.» SCENE 5: “Draw a Road Map.” Steve Jobs makes his argumenteasy to follow by adopting one of the most powerful principlesof persuasion: the rule of three.» SCENE 6: “Introduce the Antagonist.” Every great Steve Jobspresentation introduces a common villain that the audiencecan turn against. Once he introduces an enemy, the stage is setfor the next scene.» SCENE 7: “Reveal the Conquering Hero.” Every great SteveJobs presentation introduces a hero the audience can rallyaround. The hero offers a better way of doing something,breaks from the status quo, and inspires people to embraceinnovation.

N E 1SCENE 1SCEPlan in AnalogMarketing is really theater.It‘s like staging a performance.—JOHN SCULLEYSteve Jobs has built a reputation in the digital world ofbits and bytes, but he creates stories in the very oldworldtradition of pen and paper. His presentations aretheatrical events intended to generate maximum publicity,buzz, and awe. They contain all of the elements of greatplays or movies: conflict, resolution, villains, and heroes. And,in line with all great movie directors, Jobs storyboards the plotbefore picking up a “camera” (i.e., opening the presentationsoftware). It‘s marketing theater unlike any other.Jobs is closely involved in every detail of a presentation: writingdescriptive taglines, creating slides, practicing demos, andmaking sure the lighting is just right. Jobs takes nothing forgranted. He does what most top presentation designers recommend:he starts on paper. “There‘s just something about paperand pen and sketching out rough ideas in the ‘analog world’ inthe early stages that seems to lead to more clarity and better,more creative results when we finally get down to representingour ideas digitally,” writes Garr Reynolds in Presentation Zen. 1Design experts, including those who create presentations forApple, recommend that presenters spend the majority of theirtime thinking, sketching, and scripting. Nancy Duarte is thegenius behind Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Duarte suggeststhat a presenter spend up to ninety hours to create an hour-longpresentation that contains thirty slides. However, only one-3

4 CREATE THE STORYthird of that time should be dedicated to building the slides, saysDuarte. 2 The first twenty-seven hours are dedicated to researchingthe topic, collecting input from experts, organizing ideas,collaborating with colleagues, and sketching the structure ofthe story.Bullets KillThink about what happens when you open PowerPoint. A blankformatslide appears that contains space for words—a title andsubtitle. This presents a problem. There are very few words in aSteve Jobs presentation. Now think about the first thing you seein the drop-down menu under Format: Bullets & Numbering.This leads to the second problem. There are no bullet points ina Steve Jobs presentation. The software itself forces you to createa template that represents the exact opposite of what youneed to speak like Steve! In fact, as you will learn in later scenes,texts and bullets are the least effective way to deliver informationintended to be recalled and acted upon. Save your bulletpoints for grocery lists.Visually engaging presentations will inspire your audience.And yes, they require a bit of work, especially in the planningphase. As a communications coach, I work with CEOs andother top executives on their media, presentation, and publicspeaking skills. One of my clients, a start-up entrepreneur, hadspent sixty straight days in Bentonville, Arkansas, to score anappointment with Wal-Mart. His technology intrigued companyexecutives, who agreed to a beta test, a trial run. Wal-Martasked him to present the information to a group of advertisersand top executives. I met with my client over a period ofdays at the offices of the Silicon Valley venture capital firmthat invested in his company. For the first day, we did nothingbut sketch the story. No computer and no PowerPoint—justpen and paper (whiteboard, in this case). Eventually we turnedthe sketches into slide ideas. We needed only five slides for afifteen-minute presentation. Creating the slides did not take asmuch time as developing the story. Once we wrote the narrative,

PLAN IN ANALOG 5designing the slides was easy. Remember, it’s the story, not theslides, that will capture the imagination of your audience.The Napkin TestA picture is the most powerful method for conveying an idea.Instead of booting up your computer, take out a napkin. Someof the most successful business ideas have been sketched onthe back of a napkin. One could argue that the napkin has beenmore important to the world of business ideas than PowerPoint.I used to think that “napkin stories” were just that—stories,from the imagination of journalists. That is until I met RichardTait, the founder of Cranium. I prepared him for an interviewon CNBC. He told me that during a cross-country flight fromNew York to Seattle, he took out a small cocktail napkin andsketched the idea of a board game in which everyone had achance to excel in at least one category, a game that would giveeveryone a chance to shine. Cranium became a worldwide sensationand was later purchased by Hasbro. The original conceptwas simple enough to write on a tiny airline napkin.One of the most famous corporate napkin stories involvesSouthwest Airlines. A lawyer at the time, Herb Kelleher metwith one of his clients, Rollin King, at the St. Anthony’s Club, inSan Antonio. King owned a small charter airline. He wanted tostart a low-cost commuter airline that avoided the major hubsand instead served Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Kingsketched three circles, wrote the names of the cities inside,and connected the three—a strikingly simple vision. Kelleherunderstood immediately. Kelleher signed on as legal counsel(he later became CEO), and the two men founded SouthwestAirlines in 1967. King and Kelleher would go on to reinventairline travel in the United States and build a corporate culturethat would earn Southwest’s place among the most admiredcompanies in the world. Never underestimate the power of avision so simple that it can fit on a napkin!

6 CREATE THE STORYThe Story Takes Center StageIn Beyond Bullet Points, Cliff Atkinson stresses, “The single mostimportant thing you can do to dramatically improve your presentationsis to have a story to tell before you work on yourPowerPoint file.” 3 Atkinson advocates a three-step storyboardapproach to creating presentations:Writing → Sketching → ProducingOnly after writing—scripting—the scenes does he advocatethinking visually about how the slides will look. “To write ascript, you need to momentarily set aside PowerPoint designissues like fonts, colors, backgrounds, and slide transitions.Although it might sound counterintuitive, when you write ascript first, you actually expand your visual possibilities, becausewriting defines your purpose before you start designing. A scriptunlocks the undiscovered power of PowerPoint as a visual storytellingtool in ways that might surprise and delight you and youraudiences.” 4 With a completed script in hand, you’ll be ready tosketch and “produce” the experience. The script, however, mustcome first.Nine Elements of Great PresentationsPersuasive presentation scripts contain nine common elements.Think about incorporating each of these componentsbefore you open the presentation program, whether you workin PowerPoint, Keynote, or any other design software. Some ofthese concepts will be explored in more detail later, but for nowkeep them in mind as you develop your ideas.HEADLINEWhat is the one big idea you want to leave with your audience?It should be short (140 characters or less), memorable, andwritten in the subject-verb-object sequence. When Steve Jobsunveiled the iPhone, he exclaimed, “Today Apple reinvents the

PLAN IN ANALOG 7phone!” 5 That’s a headline. Headlines grab the attention of youraudience and give people a reason to listen. Read USA Today forideas. Here are some examples from America’s most populardaily newspaper:» ”Apple’s Skinny MacBook Is Fat with Features”» ”Apple Unleashes Leopard Operating System”» ”Apple Shrinks iPod”PASSION STATEMENTAristotle, the father of public speaking, believed that successfulspeakers must have “pathos,” or passion for their subject.Very few communicators express a sense of excitement abouttheir topic. Steve Jobs exudes an almost giddy enthusiasm everytime he presents. Former employees and even some journalistshave claimed that they found his energy and enthusiasmcompletely mesmerizing. Spend a few minutes developing a passionstatement by filling in the following sentence: “I’m excitedabout this product [company, initiative, feature, etc.] becauseit.” Once you have identified the passionstatement, don’t be bashful—share it.THREE KEY MESSAGESNow that you have decided on your headline and passion statement,write out the three messages you want your audience toreceive. They should be easily recalled without the necessity oflooking at notes. Although Scene 5 is dedicated to this subject,for now keep in mind that your listeners can recall only three orfour points in short-term memory. Each of the key messages willbe followed by supporting points.METAPHORS AND ANALOGIESAs you develop key messages and supporting points, decide onwhich rhetorical devices will make your narrative more engaging.According to Aristotle, metaphor is “the most importantthing by far.” A metaphor—a word or phrase that denotes one

8 CREATE THE STORYthing and is used to designate another for purposes of comparison—isa persuasive tool in the best marketing, advertising,and public relations campaigns. Jobs uses metaphors in conversationsand presentations. In one famous interview, Jobs said,“What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that wehave ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for ourminds.” 6Sales professionals are fond of sports metaphors: “We’re allplaying for the same team”; “This isn’t a scrimmage; it’s for real”;or “We’re batting a thousand; let’s keep it up.” While sportsmetaphors work fine, challenge yourself to break away fromwhat your audience expects. I came across an interesting metaphorfor a new antivirus suite of applications from Kaspersky.The company ran full-page ads (the one I saw was in USA Today)that showed a dejected medieval soldier in a full suit of armorwalking away, with his back toward the reader. The headlineread, “Don’t be so sad. You were very good once upon a time.”The metaphor compared today’s Internet security technologies(Kaspersky’s competitors) to slow, cumbersome medieval armor,which of course is no match for today’s military technology. Thecompany extended the metaphor to the website with an imageof a suit of armor and the same tagline. The metaphor was consistentthroughout the company’s marketing material.Analogies are close cousins of metaphors and also are veryeffective. An analogy is a comparison between two differentthings in order to highlight some area of similarity. Analogieshelp us understand concepts that might be foreign to us. “Themicroprocessor is the brain of your computer” is an analogy thatworks well for companies such as Intel. In many ways, the chipserves the same function in the computer as a brain serves in ahuman. The chip and the brain are two different things withlike features. This particular analogy is so useful that it is widelypicked up by the media. When you find a strong analogy thatworks, stick with it and make it consistent across your presentations,website, and marketing material. Jobs likes to have funwith analogies, especially if they can be applied to Microsoft.During an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg,

PLAN IN ANALOG 9Jobs pointed out that many people say iTunes is their favoriteapplication for Windows. “It’s like giving a glass of ice water tosomeone in hell!” 7DEMONSTRATIONSJobs shares the spotlight with employees, partners, and products.Demos make up a large part of his presentations. WhenJobs unveiled a new version of the OS X operating system, codenamedLeopard, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference(commonly abbreviated WWDC, the annual conference is anApple event to showcase new software and technologies) inJune 2007, he said Leopard had three hundred new features. Hechose ten to discuss and demonstrate, including Time Machine(automated backup), Boot Camp (runs Windows XP and Vistaon Mac), and Stacks (file organization). Instead of simply listingthe features on a slide and explaining them, he sat downand showed the audience how they worked. He also chose thefeatures he wanted the press to highlight. Why leave it to themedia to decide which of three hundred new features were themost compelling? He would tell them.Does your product lend itself to a demonstration? If so, scriptit into the presentation. Your audience wants to see, touch, andexperience your product or service. Bring it to life.I worked with Goldman Sachs investors to prepare the CEOof a Silicon Valley semiconductor start-up that was about to gopublic. The company shrinks chips that create audio sound formobile computers. As we were planning the investor presentation,the CEO pulled out a chip the size of a fingernail and said,“You wouldn’t believe the sound that this generates. Listen tothis.” He turned up the volume on his laptop and played musicthat impressed those of us who were in the room. It was a nobrainerto use the same demonstration (with a more dramaticbuildup) when the executive pitched the company to investors.The IPO went on to become a huge success. An investor whohad underwritten the company later called me and said, “I don’tknow what you did, but the CEO was a hit.” I didn’t have theheart to say that I stole the idea from the Steve Jobs playbook.

10 CREATE THE STORYPARTNERSJobs shares the stage with key partners as well as his products. InSeptember 2005, Jobs announced that all of Madonna’s albumswould be available on iTunes. The pop star herself suddenlyappeared via webcam and joked with Jobs that she had tried tohold out as long as possible but got tired of not being able todownload her own songs. Whether it’s an artist or an industrypartner like the CEOs of Intel, Fox, or Sony, Jobs often sharesthe stage with people who contribute to Apple’s success.CUSTOMER EVIDENCE AND THIRD-PARTY ENDORSEMENTSOffering “customer evidence” or testimonials is an importantpart of the selling cycle. Few customers want to be pioneers,especially when budgets are tight. Just as recruiters ask for references,your customers want to hear success stories. This isespecially critical for small companies. Your sales and marketingcollateral might look great in that glossy four-color brochure, butit will be met with a healthy degree of skepticism. The numberone influencer is word of mouth. Successful product launchesusually have several customers who were involved in the betaand who can vouch for the product. Incorporate customer evidenceinto your pitch. Including a quote is simple enough, buttry going one step further by recording a short testimonial andembedding the video on your site and in your presentation.Even better, invite a customer to join you in person (or via webcam)at a presentation or an important sales meeting.Do you have third-party reviews of your product? Always usethird-party endorsements when available. Word of mouth is oneof the most effective marketing tools available, and when yourcustomers see an endorsement from a publication or an individualthey respect, it will make them feel more comfortable abouttheir purchasing decisions.VIDEO CLIPSVery few presenters incorporate video into their presentations.Jobs plays video clips very often. Sometimes he shows videoof employees talking about how much they enjoyed working

PLAN IN ANALOG 13Aristotle’s Outline for Persuasive ArgumentsA Steve Jobs presentation follows Aristotle’s classic five-pointplan to create a persuasive argument:1. Deliver a story or statement that arouses the audience’sinterest.2. Pose a problem or question that has to be solved oranswered.3. Offer a solution to the problem you raised.4. Describe specific benefits for adopting the course of actionset forth in your solution.5. State a call to action. For Steve, it’s as simple as saying,“Now go out and buy one!”returned to Apple in 1996, taking over for ousted Gil Amelio,he found a company with more than forty different products,which confused the customer. In a bold move, he radicallysimplified the product pipeline. In Inside Steve’s Brain, LeanderKahney writes that Jobs called senior management into hisoffice. “Jobs drew a very simple two-by-two grid on the whiteboard.Across the top he wrote ‘Consumer’ and ‘Professional,’and down the side, ‘Portable’ and ‘Desktop.’ ” 9 Under Jobs, Applewould offer just four computers—two notebooks and two desktops—aimedat consumer and professional users. This is one ofmany stories in which we learn that Jobs does his best thinkingwhen he’s thinking visually. Whether you plan best on a whiteboard,a yellow legal pad, or Post-it notes, spend time in analogbefore jumping to digital. Your ultimate presentation will be farmore interesting, engaging, and relevant.

14 CREATE THE STORYDIRECTOR’S NOTES» Start planning before you open the presentation software.Sketch ideas on paper or whiteboards.» Incorporate some, if not all, of the following nine elementsto make your presentation come alive: headline,passion statement, three key messages, analogies,demonstrations, partner showcase, customer evidence,video clips, and props.» Speaking like Jobs has little to do with the type of presentationsoftware you use (PowerPoint, Keynote, etc.)and everything to do with how you craft and deliver thestory.

N E 2SCENE 2SCEAnswer the OneQuestion ThatMatters MostYou’ve got to start with the customer experience and workback toward the technology—not the other way around.—STEVE JOBS, MAY 25, 1997, WORLDWIDE DEVELOPERS CONFERENCEIn May 1998, Apple launched a splashy new product aimed atshoring up its dwindling share of the computer market, whichhad sunk to under 4 percent. When Jobs unveiled the newtranslucent iMac, he described the reason for building thecomputer, the target market, and the benefit customers wouldsee from buying the new system:Even though this is a full-blown Macintosh, we are targetingthis for the number one use consumers tell us they want acomputer for, which is to get on the Internet simply and fast.We’re also targeting this for education. They want to buythese. It’s perfect for most of the things they do in instruction. . . We went out and looked at all of the consumer productsout there. We noticed some things about them pretty muchuniversally. The first is they are very slow. They are all usinglast year’s processor. Secondly, they all have pretty crummydisplays on them . . . likely no networking on them . . . oldgenerationI/O devices, and what that means is they are15

16 CREATE THE STORYlower performance and harder to use . . . and these thingsare uuugly! So, let me tell you about iMac. 1After describing the weaknesses of current products in thepreceding excerpt, Jobs drew a verbal road map for his audience,listing the features he would explain in more detail. (Learn moreabout drawing a road map in Scene 5.) The audience learned thatthe new iMac was fast (“it screams”) and that it had a “gorgeous”fifteen-inch display, a large amount of built-in memory, andcomponents that would make accessing a network easier for studentsand home users. In one of his typical surprise moments,Jobs then walked to the center of the stage and pulled the coveroff the new computer.Your audience wants to be informed, educated, and entertained:informed about your product, educated on how it works,and entertained while learning about it. Above all, people wantto know the answer to one question: Why should I care? Let’stake a closer look at that iMac excerpt. Jobs told the audience,“what that means is . . .” Jobs connects the dots for his listeners.Although he might leave the industry in the dark about futureApple releases, he never leaves his audience guessing when theproduct is finally introduced. Why should you care about Apple’snew computer, MP3 player, phone, or gadget? Don’t worry. Jobswill tell you.The Rumors Are TrueFor years, Apple had a rivalry with Intel—even setting fire toan Intel bunny man in a 1996 TV spot. One decade later, Appleput its rivalry to rest and announced that Intel processors wouldpower its new Macintosh systems, replacing IBM’s PowerPCchips. On June 6, 2005, Jobs announced the switch at Apple’sWorldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.Rumors of the switch had been floating around for months,and many observers expressed concern about the transition.Reporters for eWeek magazine found it difficult to believe Applewould swap the PowerPC for Intel, since the PowerPC hadworked well for the brand. Developers were grumbling. Jobs had

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MATTERS MOST 17to convince the audience that the switch was the right thingto do. His presentation was enormously persuasive in changingpeople’s opinions because, using plain and direct language,he answered the one question that mattered most: Why shouldApple’s customers and developers care?Yes, it’s true. We are going to begin the transition fromPowerPC to Intel processors. Now, why are we going to dothis? Didn’t we just get through going from OS 9 to OS X?Isn’t the business great right now? Because we want to makethe best computers for our customers looking forward. Now,I stood up here two years ago and promised you this [slideshows desktop computer with 3 GHz], and we haven’t beenable to deliver it to you. I think a lot of you would like aG5 in your PowerBook, and we haven’t been able to deliverit. But these aren’t even the most important reasons. As welook ahead, though we have some great products now, wecan envision some amazing products we want to build foryou, and we don’t know how to build them with the futurePowerPC road map. That’s why we’re going to do this. 2Jobs articulated the argument so convincingly that fewpeople in the audience that day left without a high degree ofconfidence that the transition had been the right thing forApple, its developers, and its customers.Why Should I Care?During the planning phase of your presentation, always rememberthat it’s not about you. It’s about them. The listeners in youraudience are asking themselves one question—“Why should Icare?” Answering that one question right out of the gate willgrab people’s attention and keep them engaged.I was preparing a CEO for a major analyst presentation andasked how he planned to kick it off. He offered this dry, boring,and confusing introduction: “Our company is a premier developerof intelligent semiconductor intellectual property solutions thatdramatically accelerate complex system-on-a-chip designs while

18 CREATE THE STORYChannel Your Best Steve Jobs ImpressionIn the summer of 2006, Intel released a processor brandedCore 2 Duo. The “duo” stood for dual-core, meaning therewere two cores, or brains, on each microprocessor. That maynot sound exciting, but if you answer the one question thatmatters—Why should I care?—it becomes very interesting.Take two scenarios: In both scenarios, a customer walksinto a computer store and asks the salesperson for informationabout notebook computers. The sales professional in the firstscenario has not read this book and fails to answer the onequestion that matters. The salesperson in the second scenariois more likely to win the sale, by virtue of channeling his or herinner Steve Jobs and answering the one question on the mindof the customer: Why should I care?Scenario OneCUSTOMER: Hi, I’m looking for a notebook computer that islight and fast and includes a DVD.SALESPERSON: You should look for an Intel Core 2 Duo.CUSTOMER: OK. I didn’t know Intel makes computers.SALESPERSON: They don’t.CUSTOMER: Can you tell me more?SALESPERSON: An Intel dual-core processor has two performanceengines that simultaneously process data at afaster rate.CUSTOMER: Oh. Maybe I should look somewhere else.Of course the customer in this scenario will look somewhereelse. Although the salesperson was technically accurate,the customer had to work far too hard to figure out how thenew system would make the person’s life better. It took toomuch brainpower, and as you’ll learn, the brain is a lazy pieceof meat that tries to preserve energy. Make the brain worktoo hard, and you’ll lose your audience. The customer hadone question in mind and one question only. The salespersonfailed to answer it and seemed indifferent, even arrogant. Let’s

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MATTERS MOST 19try it again. This time, the salesperson will do a stellar SteveJobs impression.Scenario TwoSALESPERSON: Hi, can I help you find something?CUSTOMER: Sure. I’m looking for a notebook computer. Onethat is light and fast and includes a DVD.SALESPERSON: You’ve come to the right place. We have ahuge selection of small notebooks that are blazinglyfast. Have you considered a system with an Intel Core 2Duo?CUSTOMER: Not really. What’s that?SALESPERSON: Think of the microprocessor as the brain ofyour computer. Now, with these Intel chips, you get twobrains in one computer. What that means to you is thatyou can do a lot of fun and productive stuff at the sametime. For example, you can download music while yourcomputer is running a full virus scan in the background,and it won’t slow down the system at all. Your productivityapplications will load much faster, you can workon multiple documents at the same time, your DVDswill play much better, and you get much longer batterylife on top of it! And that’s not all: the displays aregorgeous.CUSTOMER: Great. Please show me those computers!In this scenario, the salesperson spoke in plain English,used tangible examples to make the product relevant, andanswered the only question that really mattered to the customer:Why should I care about the processor? Retailers whotrain their sales staffs to describe products in this way willstand out from the competition. Come to think of it, there isa retailer that does exactly that—Apple. Walk into most anyApple store, and you will be greeted by enthusiastic men andwomen who are eager to explain how Apple products willmake your life better.

20 CREATE THE STORYminimizing risk.” I was dumbfounded and suggested he take apage from the Steve Jobs playbook, eliminating all of the buzzwordssuch as intelligent and solutions and simply answering onequestion: Why should your customers care about your product?The CEO revised his introduction. He decided to walkonstage and ask everyone to take out his or her cell phone. Hesaid, “Our company creates software that is used to build thechips inside many of the phones you’re holding up. As thosechips get smaller and cheaper, your phones will get smaller, lastlonger on a single charge, and play music and video, all thanksto our technology working behind the scenes.”Which introduction would be more effective in grabbingyour attention? The second one, of course. It is free of jargonand, by answering the one question that matters, gives the audiencea reason to listen.Reporters are skilled at answering the one question for theirreaders. Pay attention to product descriptions in the New YorkTimes or USA Today. Articles are written to be followed andunderstood. For example, on January 20, 2009, Cisco Systemsannounced that it planned a big push into the server market, acategory dominated by IBM, HP, and Dell. The product wouldbe a server with virtualization software. Now, virtualization isone of the most complicated concepts to explain. Wikipediadefines server virtualization as “a method of partitioning aphysical server computer into multiple servers such that eachhas the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicatedmachine.” 3 Got it? Didn’t think so. The New York Times’Ashlee Vance took a different approach: “Virtualization productslet companies run numerous business applications, ratherthan just one, on each physical server, allowing them to saveelectricity and get more out of their hardware purchases.” 4The difference, of course, is that Vance answered the onequestion on the minds of her readers—What does “virtualization”mean to me? In this case, she identified her audience asinvestors, IT decision makers, and business leaders who wouldcare about such things.

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MATTERS MOST 21Your listeners are asking themselves, “Why should I care?” Ifyour product will help your customers make money, tell them. Ifit helps them save money, tell them. If it makes it easier or moreenjoyable for them to perform a particular task, tell them. Tellthem early, often, and clearly. Jobs doesn’t leave people guessing.Well before he explains the technology behind a new product orfeature, he explains how it will improve the experience peoplehave with their computers, music players, or gadgets.Table 2.1 offers a review of some other examples of how Jobssells the benefit behind a new product or feature.TABLE 2.1 JOBS SELLING THE BENEFITDATE/PRODUCTJanuary 7, 2003Keynote presentationsoftwareSeptember 12, 2006iPod nanoJanuary 15, 2008Time Capsule backupservice for Macs runningLeopard OSJune 9, 2008iPhone 3GSeptember 9, 2008Genius feature for iTunesBENEFIT“Using Keynote is like having a professionalgraphics department to create your slides.This is the application to use when yourpresentation really counts.” 5“The all-new iPod nano gives music fansmore of what they love in their iPods—twicethe storage capacity at the same price, anincredible twenty-four-hour battery life, anda gorgeous aluminum design in five brilliantcolors.” 6“With Time Capsule, all your irreplaceablephotos, movies, and documents areautomatically protected and incredibly easyto retrieve if they are ever lost.” 7“Just one year after launching the iPhone,we’re launching the new iPhone 3G. It’s twiceas fast at half the price.” 8“Genius lets you automatically create playlistsfrom songs in your music library that go greattogether, with just one click.” 9

22 CREATE THE STORYAvoid Self-Indulgent, Buzzword-Filled Wastes of TimeAnswer the one question in all of your marketing materials:website, presentation slides, and press releases. The peoplewho should know better—public relations professionals—areoften the worst violators of this rule. The majority of pressreleases are usually self-indulgent, buzzword-filled wastesof time. Few members of the press even read press releases,because the documents fail to answer the one question thatmatters most to a reporter—Why should my readers care? Asa journalist, I’ve seen thousands of press releases and rarely,if ever, covered a story based on one. Most other journalistswould concur. Far too many press releases focus on corporatechanges (management appointments, new logos, new offices,etc.) that nobody cares about, and if people should happento care, the information is far from clear. Read press releasesissued on any given day, and you will go numb trying to figureout why anyone would care about the information.For fun, I took a few samples from press releases issuedwithin hours of one another. The date does not matter. Themajority of all press releases violate the same fundamentalprinciples of persuasion:” Industries announced todaythat it has signed an exclusive distribution agreementwith. Under terms of theagreement,will be the exclusivenational distributor of ’sdiesel exhaust fluid.” Now, seriously, who cares? I wishI could tell you how the new distribution agreementbenefits anyone, even shareholders. I can’t, becausethe rest of the press release never answers the questiondirectly.“ has been named 2008 PizzaChain of the Year by Pizza Marketplace.” The press

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MATTERS MOST 23release said this honor comes after the chain deliveredconsistent profits, six quarters of same-store salesincreases, and a new management team. Now, if thechain offered its customers a special discount to celebratethis honor, it would be newsworthy, but the pressrelease mentions nothing that distinguishes this pizzachain from the thousands of other pizza parlors. Thistype of release falls under the “look at us” category—announcements that are largely meaningless to anyoneoutside the executive suites.“ has announced the additionof the ‘Annual Report on China’s Steel Market in 2008and the Outlook for 2009’ report to their offering.”Really? I’m sure millions of people around the worldwere waiting for this new report! Just kidding. This isanother example of a wasted opportunity. If this releasehad started with one new, eye-opening piece of informationfrom the new report, I might have been slightlymore interested. However, that would have meant puttingthe reader first, and, sadly, most PR pros who writepress releases intended for journalists have never beentrained as journalists themselves.Here’s another gem, courtesy of an electric company in Hawaii:” today announced thathas been named presidentand CEO, effective January 1, 2009.replaces, who stepped down aspresident and CEO in August of this year.” We also learnedthat the new CEO has thirty-two years of experience inthe utilities industry and has lived on the big island fortwenty years. Isn’t that wonderful? Doesn’t it give you awarm feeling? Again, this press release represents a lostopportunity to connect with the company’s investors

24 CREATE THE STORYand customers. If the release had started with one thingthat the new CEO planned to do immediately to improveservice, it would have been far more interesting andnewsworthy.For the most part, press releases fail miserably at generatinginterest because they don’t answer the one question thatmatters most to the reader. Do not make the same mistake inyour presentation, publicity, and marketing material.Nobody has time to listen to a pitch or presentation thatholds no benefit. If you pay close attention to Jobs, you will seethat he doesn’t “sell” products; he sells the dream of a betterfuture. When Apple launched the iPhone in early 2007, CNBCreporter Jim Goldman asked Jobs, “Why is the iPhone so importantto Apple?” Jobs avoided a discussion of shareholder valueor market share; instead, he offered the vision of a better experience:“I think the iPhone may change the whole phone industryand give us something that is vastly more powerful in terms ofmaking phone calls and keeping your contacts. We have thebest iPod we’ve ever made fully integrated into it. And it hasthe Internet in your pocket with a real browser, real e-mail, andthe best implementation of Google Maps on the planet. iPhonebrings all this stuff in your pocket, and it’s ten times easier touse.” 10 Jobs explains the “why” before the “how.”Your audience doesn’t care about your product. People careabout themselves. According to former Apple employee andMac evangelist Guy Kawasaki, “The essence of evangelism is topassionately show people how you can make history together.Evangelism has little to do with cash flow, the bottom line, orco-marketing. It is the purest and most passionate form of salesbecause you are selling a dream, not a tangible object.” 11 Selldreams, not products.

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MATTERS MOST 25DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Ask yourself, “Why should my listener care about thisidea/information/product/service?” If there is only onething that you want your listener to take away from theconversation, what would it be? Focus on selling thebenefit behind the product.» Make the one thing as clear as possible, repeating it atleast twice in the conversation or presentation. Eliminatebuzzwords and jargon to enhance the clarity of yourmessage.» Make sure the one thing is consistent across all of yourmarketing collateral, including press releases, websitepages, and presentations.

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N E 3SCENE 3SCEDevelop aMessianic Senseof PurposeWe’re here to put a dent in the universe.—STEVE JOBSNew York’s luxury, Upper West Side apartment building,the San Remo, is located on Seventy-Fifth Streetwith commanding views of Central Park. Its mostfamous residents read like a who’s who of contemporaryculture: Tiger Woods, Demi Moore, Dustin Hoffman, Bono,and, at one time, a young man on a mission—Steve Jobs.In 1983, Jobs was aggressively courting then PepsiCopresident John Sculley. Apple desperately wanted to bring insomeone with Sculley’s marketing and managing experience,but despite Steve’s charm, Sculley failed to budge. The positionwould require that Sculley relocate his family to the WestCoast, and it paid less than he wanted. One sentence wouldchange everything. One sentence that would transform Apple,shift the trajectory of Sculley’s career, and begin Jobs’s amazingpath from whiz kid to failure to hero and, finally, to legend.In his book Odyssey, Sculley recounts the conversation thatwould lead to his decision to take the job. The conversation27

28 CREATE THE STORYalso provided one of the most famous quotes in the history ofcorporate America.According to Sculley, “We were on the balcony’s west side,facing the Hudson River, when he [Jobs] finally asked medirectly: ‘Are you going to come to Apple?’ ‘Steve,’ I said, ‘I reallylove what you’re doing. I’m excited by it; how could anyone notbe captivated? But it just doesn’t make sense. Steve, I’d love to bean adviser to you, to help you in any way. But I don’t think I cancome to Apple.’ ”Sculley said Jobs’s head dropped; he paused and stared at theground. Jobs then looked up and issued a challenge to Sculleythat would “haunt” him. Jobs said, “Do you want to spend therest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance tochange the world?” 1 Sculley said it was as if someone delivered astiff blow to his stomach.The Reality Distortion FieldSculley had witnessed what Apple’s vice president Bud Tribbleonce described as Jobs’s “reality distortion field”: an ability toconvince anyone of practically anything. Many people cannotresist this magnetic pull and are willing to follow Jobs to thepromised land (or at least to the next cool iPod).Few people can escape the Jobs charisma, a magnetismsteeped in passion for his products. Observers have said thatthere is something about the way Jobs talks, the enthusiasmthat he conveys, that grabs everyone in the room and doesn’tlet go. Even journalists who should have built up an immunityto such gravitational forces cannot escape the influence. Wired.com editor Leander Kahney interviewed Jobs biographer AlanDeutschman, who described a meeting with Jobs: “He usesyour first name very often. He looks directly in your eyes withthat laser-like stare. He has these movie-star eyes that are veryhypnotic. But what really gets you is the way he talks—there’ssomething about the rhythm of his speech and the incredibleenthusiasm he conveys for whatever it is he’s talking about thatis just infectious.” 2

DEVELOP A MESSIANIC SENSE OF PURPOSE 29Do What You LoveDeutschman said the Steve Jobs “X” factor is “the way he talks.”But what exactly is it about the way he talks that pulls you in?Jobs speaks with passion, enthusiasm, and energy. Jobs himselftells us where his passion comes from: “You’ve got to find whatyou love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, andthe only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe isgreat work. And the only way to do great work is to love whatyou do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” 3We all have a unique purpose. Some people, such as Jobs,identify that purpose from an early age; others never do, becausethey are caught up in catching up with the Joneses. One sureway to lose sight of your purpose is to chase money for the sakeof chasing money. Jobs is a billionaire and an extraordinarycommunicator precisely because he followed his heart, his passion.The money, he most certainly knew, would come.FINDING YOUR CORE PURPOSEWhat is your core purpose? Once you find it, express it enthusiastically.One of the most profound experiences of my journalismcareer happened during an interview with Chris Gardner. ActorWill Smith played Gardner in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness.In That Craziness, We See GeniusI think you always had to be a little different to buy an Applecomputer. I think the people who do buy them are the creativespirits in this world. They are the people who are not out just toget a job done; they’re out to change the world. We make toolsfor those kinds of people . . . We are going to serve the people whohave been buying our products since the beginning. A lot of times,people think they’re crazy. But in that craziness, we see genius.And those are the people we’re making tools for. 4—STEVE JOBS

30 CREATE THE STORYIn the eighties, the real-life Gardner pursued an unpaid internshipto become a stockbroker. He was homeless at the time, spendingnights in the bathroom of an Oakland, California, subway station.To make the situation even harder, Gardner took care of histwo-year-old son. The two slept together on the bathroom floor.Every morning, Gardner would put on the one suit he had, drophis son off at a very questionable day care, and take his classes.Gardner finished top of his class, became a stockbroker, andearned many millions of dollars. For a BusinessWeek column, Iasked him, “Mr. Gardner, how did you find the strength to keepgoing?” His answer was so profound that I remember it to thisday: “Find something you love to do so much, you can’t wait forthe sun to rise to do it all over again.” 5In Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies,authors Jim Collins and Jerry Porras studied eighteen leadingcompanies. Their conclusion: individuals are inspired by “corevalues and a sense of purpose beyond just making money.” 6From his earliest interviews, it becomes clear that Jobs was moremotivated by creating great products than by calculating howmuch money he would make at building those products.In a PBS documentary, Triumph of the Nerds, Jobs said, “I wasworth over a million dollars when I was twenty-three, and overten million dollars when I was twenty-four, and over a hundredmillion dollars when I was twenty-five, and it wasn’t that important,because I never did it for the money.” 7 I never did it for themoney. This phrase holds the secret between becoming an extraordinarypresenter and one mired in mediocrity for the rest of yourlife. Jobs once said that being “the richest man in the cemetery”didn’t matter to him; rather, “going to bed at night saying we’vedone something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.” 8 Greatpresenters are passionate, because they follow their hearts. Theirconversations become platforms to share that passion.Malcolm Gladwell shares a fascinating observation inOutliers. He argues that most of the leaders who are responsiblefor the personal computing revolution were born in 1955. That’sthe magic year, he says. According to Gladwell, the chronologymakes sense because the first “minicomputer,” the Altair,

DEVELOP A MESSIANIC SENSE OF PURPOSE 31was introduced in 1975, marking one of the most importantdevelopments in the history of personal computers. He states:“If you were more than a few years out of college in 1975, thenyou belonged to the old paradigm. You had just bought a house.You’re married. A baby is on the way. You’re in no position togive up a good job and pension for some pie-in-the-sky $397computer kit.” 9 Likewise, if you were too young, you would notbe mature enough to participate in the revolution.Gladwell speculates that the ideal age of tech industry titanswas around twenty or twenty-one, those born in 1954 or 1955.Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955. He was born at theright time and in the right neighborhood to take advantage ofthe moment. Gladwell points out that Jobs is one of an amazingnumber of technology leaders born in 1954 and 1955 (includingBill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, Eric Schmidt, Scott McNealy,and others). Gladwell’s conclusion is that these men became successfulprecisely because computers were not big moneymakersat the time. They were cool, and these men loved to tinker. Themessage, claims Gladwell, is: to achieve success, do what you findinteresting. Do what you love, and follow your core purpose. AsJobs has said, your heart knows where it wants to be.THE LUCKIEST GUYS ON THE PLANETOn May 30, 2007, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates shared the stage in arare joint appearance at the technology conference D: All ThingsLust for ItIn a New York Times article after the launch of the MacBook Air,John Markoff wrote about witnessing Steve’s enthusiasm inperson. Markoff spent thirty minutes with Jobs after the conferenceand noted that Jobs’s passion for personal computingcame across even more so than it did when he was performingonstage. Jobs excitedly told Markoff, “I’m going to be the firstone in line to buy one of these. I’ve been lusting after this.” 10

32 CREATE THE STORYDigital. Wall Street Journal columnists Walt Mossberg and KaraSwisher covered a variety of topics with the two tech titans. Inresponse to a question about Bill Gates’s “second act” as a philanthropist,Jobs credited Gates for making the world a better placebecause Gates’s goal wasn’t to be the richest guy in the cemetery.You know, I’m sure Bill was like me in this way. I mean, Igrew up fairly middle-class, lower middle-class, and I neverreally cared much about money. And Apple was so successfulearly on in life that I was very lucky that I didn’t have to careabout money then. And so I’ve been able to focus on workand then later on, my family. And I sort of look at us as twoof the luckiest guys on the planet because we found what weloved to do, we were at the right place at the right time, andwe’ve gotten to go to work every day with superbright peoplefor thirty years and do what we love doing. And so it’s hardto be happier than that. And so I don’t think about legacymuch. I just think about being able to get up every day andgo in and hang around these great people and hopefully createsomething that other people will love as much as we do.And if we can do that, that’s great. 11Nowhere in that quote do you hear Jobs speak of wealth,stock options, or private planes. Those things are nice, but theydon’t motivate Jobs. His drive comes from doing what he loves—designing great products that people enjoy.Rally People to a Better FutureDonald Trump once remarked, “If you don’t have passion, youhave no energy, and if you don’t have energy, you have nothing.”It all starts with passion. Passion stirs the emotions of yourlisteners when you use it to paint a picture of a more meaningfulworld, a world that your customers or employees can play apart in creating.Marcus Buckingham interviewed thousands of employeeswho excelled at their jobs during his seventeen years at the

DEVELOP A MESSIANIC SENSE OF PURPOSE 33Oprah Shares Jobs’s Secret to SuccessFollow your passion. Do what you love, and the money will follow.Most people don’t believe it, but it’s true. 12—OPRAH WINFREYGallup organization. After interviewing thousands of peak performers,he arrived at what he considers the single best definitionof leadership: “Great leaders rally people to a better future,” hewrites in The One Thing You Need to Know. 13According to Buckingham, a leader carries a vivid imagein his or her head of what a future could be. “Leaders are fascinatedby the future. You are a leader if, and only if, you arerestless for change, impatient for progress, and deeply dissatisfiedwith the status quo.” He explains, “As a leader, you arenever satisfied with the present, because in your head you cansee a better future, and the friction between ‘what is’ and ‘whatcould be’ burns you, stirs you up, propels you forward. This isleadership.” 14 Jobs’s vision must have certainly burned him,stirred him, and propelled him forward. Jobs once told JohnSculley he dreamed that every person in the world would ownan Apple computer. But Jobs did not stop there. He shared thatdream with all who would listen.True evangelists are driven by a messianic zeal to create newexperiences. “It was characteristic of Steve to speak in both vividand sweeping language,” writes Sculley. “ ‘What we want to do,’he [Steve Jobs] explained, ‘is to change the way people use computersin the world. We’ve got some incredible ideas that willrevolutionize the way people use computers. Apple is going tobe the most important computer company in the world, farmore important than IBM.’ ” 15 Jobs was never motivated to buildcomputers. Instead, he had a burning desire to create tools tounleash human potential. Once you understand the difference,you’ll understand what sparked his famous reality distortionfield.

34 CREATE THE STORYAn Incredible JourneyApple was this incredible journey. I mean, we did some amazingthings there. The thing that bound us together at Apple was theability to make things that were going to change the world. Thatwas very important. We were all pretty young. The average agein the company was mid to late twenties. Hardly anybody hadfamilies at the beginning, and we all worked like maniacs, and thegreatest joy was that we felt we were fashioning collective worksof art much like twentieth-century physics. Something importantthat would last, that people contributed to and then could give tomore people; the amplification factor was very large. 16 —STEVE JOBSWhat Computers and CoffeeHave in CommonLee Clow, chairman of TBWA/Chiat/Day, the agency behindsome of Apple’s most notable ad campaigns, once said of Jobs,“From the time he was a kid, Steve thought his products couldchange the world.” 17 That’s the key to understanding Jobs. Hischarisma is a result of a grand but strikingly simple vision—tomake the world a better place.Jobs convinced his programmers that they were changingthe world together, making a moral choice against Microsoftand making people’s lives better. For example, Jobs gave aninterview to Rolling Stone in 2003 in which he talked about theiPod. The MP3 player was not simply a music gadget, but muchmore. According to Jobs, “Music is really being reinvented inthis digital age, and that is bringing it back into people’s lives.It’s a wonderful thing. And in our own small way, that’s howwe’re going to make the world a better place.” 18 Where somepeople see an iPod as a music player, Jobs sees a world in whichpeople can easily access their favorite songs and carry the musicalong with them wherever they go, enriching their lives.

DEVELOP A MESSIANIC SENSE OF PURPOSE 35Jobs reminds me of another business leader whom I had thepleasure of meeting, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Prior to ourinterview, I read his book, Pour Your Heart into It. Schultz is passionateabout what he does; in fact, the word passion appears onnearly every page. But it soon became clear that he is not as passionateabout coffee as he is about the people, the baristas whomake the Starbucks experience what it is. You see, Schultz’s corevision was not to make a great cup of coffee. It was much bigger.Schultz would create an experience; a third place betweenwork and home where people would feel comfortable gathering.He would build a company that treats people with dignityand respect. Those happy employees would, in turn, provide alevel of customer service that would be seen as a gold standardin the industry. When I reviewed the transcripts from my timewith Schultz, I was struck by the fact that the word coffee rarelyappeared. Schultz’s vision had little to do with coffee and everythingto do with the experience Starbucks offers.“Some managers are uncomfortable with expressing emotionabout their dreams, but it’s the passion and emotion thatwill attract and motivate others,” write Collins and Porras. 19Communicators such as Steve Jobs and Howard Schultz arepassionate about how their products improve the lives of theircustomers. They’re not afraid to express it. Coffee, computers,iPods—it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they are motivatedby a vision to change the world, to “leave a dent in theuniverse.”This book is filled with techniques to help you sell your ideasmore successfully, but no technique can make up for a lack ofpassion for your service, product, company, or cause. The secretis to identify what it is you’re truly passionate about. More oftenthan not, it’s not “the widget,” but how the widget will improvethe lives of your customers. Here is an excerpt from an interviewJobs gave Wired magazine in 1996: “Design is a funny word.Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, ifyou dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Macwasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily,it was how it worked. To design something really well, you haveto get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a

36 CREATE THE STORYThe Charismatic LeaderWhen I wasn’t sure what the word charisma meant, I met SteveJobs and then I knew. 20—FORMER APPLE CHIEF SCIENTIST LARRY TESLERpassionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something,chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’ttake the time to do that.” 21 Yes, grok is the word Jobs used. Just asHoward Schultz isn’t passionate about the product itself, coffee,Jobs isn’t passionate about hardware. He’s passionate about howdesign enables something to work more beautifully.Think DifferentLos Angeles ad agency TBWA/Chiat/Day created an Apple televisionand print advertising campaign that turned into one of themost famous campaigns in corporate history. “Think Different”debuted on September 28, 1997, and became an instant classic.As black-and-white images of famous iconoclasts filled thescreen (Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Richard Branson,John Lennon, Amelia Earhart, Muhammad Ali, Lucille Ball, BobDylan, and others), actor Richard Dreyfuss voiced the narration:Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who seethings differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they haveno respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagreewith them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing youcan’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. Theypush the human race forward. And while some may seethem as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the peoplewho are crazy enough to think they can change the worldare the ones who do. 22

DEVELOP A MESSIANIC SENSE OF PURPOSE 37The campaign won a ton of awards, became a cult favorite,and lasted five years, which is an eternity in the life cycle of adcampaigns. The campaign reinvigorated the public’s appetite forall things Apple, including an interest in one of the most influentialiconoclasts in the computer world, Steve Jobs himself.In The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Alan Deutschman, who,as mentioned earlier, was pulled into Jobs’s reality distortionfield, describes a meeting between Jobs and Newsweek’s KatieHafner, the first outsider to see the new “Think Different” ads.According to Deutschman, Hafner arrived at Apple’s headquarterson a Friday morning and waited a long time for Jobs to showup. “Finally he emerged. His chin was covered by stubble. Hewas exhausted from having stayed up all night editing footagefor the ‘Think Different’ television spot. The creative directorsat Chiat/Day would send him video clips over a satellite connection,and he would say yes or no. Now the montage was finallycomplete. Steve sat with Katie and they watched the commercial.Steve was crying. ‘That’s what I love about him,’ Katie recalls. ‘Itwasn’t trumped up. Steve was genuinely moved by that stupidad.’ ” 23Those ads touched Jobs deeply because they reflected everythingthat pushed Jobs to innovate, excel, and succeed. He sawhimself in the faces of those famous people who advanced thehuman race and changed the world.As a journalist, I learned that everyone has a story to tell. Irealize we are not all creating computers that will change theway people live, work, play, and learn. Notwithstanding, thefact is that most of us are selling a product or working on a projectthat has some benefit to the lives of our customers. Whetheryou work in agriculture, automobiles, technology, finance, orany number of other industries, you have a magnificent storyto tell. Dig deep to identify that which you are most passionateabout. ‘Once you do, share that enthusiasm with your listeners.People want to be moved and inspired, and they want to believein something. Make them believe in you.“There’s an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love,” Steve Jobsonce said: “ ‘I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it

38 CREATE THE STORYhas been.’ We’ve always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very,very beginning. And we always will.” 24DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Dig deep to identify your true passion. Ask yourself,“What am I really selling?” Here’s a hint: it’s not thewidget, but what the widget can do to improve the livesof your customers. What you’re selling is the dream of abetter life. Once you identify your true passion, share itwith gusto.» Develop a personal “passion statement.” In one sentence,tell your prospects why you are genuinely excitedabout working with them. Your passion statement willbe remembered long after your company’s missionstatement is forgotten.» If you want to be an inspiring speaker but you are notdoing what you love, consider a change. After interviewingthousands of successful leaders, I can tell you that,while it’s possible to be financially successful in a jobyou hate, you will never be considered an inspiring communicator.Passion—a messianic zeal to make the worlda better place—makes all the difference.

N E 4SCENE 4SCECreate Twitter-LikeHeadlinesToday Apple reinvents the phone!—STEVE JOBS, MACWORLD 2007“Welcome to Macworld 2008. There is somethingclearly in the air today.” 1 With that openingline, Steve Jobs set the theme for what wouldultimately be the big announcement of hiskeynote presentation—the introduction of an ultrathin notebookcomputer. No other portable computer could compare tothis three-pound, 0.16-inch-thin “dreambook,” as some observerscalled it. Steve Jobs knew that everyone would be searchingfor just the right words to describe it, so he did it for them:“MacBook Air. The world’s thinnest notebook.”The MacBook Air is Apple’s ultrathin notebook computer.The best way to describe it is as, well, the world’s thinnest notebook.Search for “world’s thinnest notebook” on Google, and thesearch engine will return about thirty thousand citations, mostof which were written after the announcement. Jobs takes theguesswork out of a new product by creating a one-line descriptionor headline that best reflects the product. The headlineswork so well that the media will often run with them word forword. You see, reporters (and your audience) are looking for acategory in which to place your product and a way of describingthe product in one sentence. Take the work out of it and writethe headline yourself.39

40 CREATE THE STORY140 Characters or LessJobs creates headlines that are specific, are memorable, and, bestof all, can fit in a Twitter post. Twitter is a fast-growing socialnetworking site that could best be described as your life betweene-mail and blogs. Millions of users “tweet” about the daily happeningsin their lives and can choose to follow the happeningsof others. Twitter is changing the nature of business communicationin a fundamental way—it forces people to write concisely.The maximum post—or tweet—is 140 characters. Charactersinclude letters, spaces, and punctuation. For example, Jobs’sdescription of the MacBook Air takes thirty characters, includingthe period: “The world’s thinnest notebook.”Jobs has a one-line description for nearly every product, andit is carefully created in the planning stage well before the presentation,press releases, and marketing material are finished.Most important, the headline is consistent. On January 15,2008, the day of the MacBook Air announcement, the headlinewas repeated in every channel of communication: presentations,website, interviews, advertisements, billboards, and posters.In Table 4.1, you see how Apple and Jobs consistently deliveredthe vision behind MacBook Air.Most presenters cannot describe their company, product,or service in one sentence. Understandably, it becomes nearlySetting the Stage for the Marketing BlitzThe minute Jobs delivers a headline onstage, the Applepublicity and marketing teams kick into full gear. Posters aredropped down inside the Macworld Expo, billboards go up,the front page of the Apple website reveals the product andheadline, and ads reflect the headline in newspapers and magazines,as well as on television and radio. Whether it’s “1,000songs in your pocket” or “The world’s thinnest notebook,” theheadline is repeated consistently in all of Apple’s marketingchannels.

CREATE TWITTER-LIKE HEADLINES 41TABLE 4.1 JOBS’S CONSISTENT HEADLINES FOR MACBOOK AIRHEADLINE”What is MacBook Air? In asentence, it’s the world’s thinnestnotebook.” 2“The world’s thinnest notebook.” 3“This is the MacBook Air. It’s thethinnest notebook in the world.” 4“We decided to build the world’sthinnest notebook.” 5“MacBook Air. The world’s thinnestnotebook.”“Apple Introduces MacBook Air—The World’s Thinnest Notebook.” 6SOURCEKeynote presentationWords on Jobs’s slidePromoting the new notebook in aCNBC interview immediately afterhis keynote presentationA second reference to MacBook Airin the same CNBC interviewTagline that accompanied thefull-screen photograph of the newproduct on Apple’s home pageApple press release“We’ve built the world’s thinnestnotebook.” 7Steve Jobs quote in the Apple pressreleaseimpossible to create consistent messaging without a preparedheadline developed early in the planning stage. The rest of thepresentation should be built around it.Today Apple Reinvents the PhoneOn January 9, 2007, PC World ran an article that announcedApple would “Reinvent the Phone” with a new device that combinedthree products: a mobile phone, an iPod, and an Internetcommunicator. That product, of course, was the iPhone. TheiPhone did, indeed, revolutionize the industry and was recognizedby Time magazine as the invention of the year. (Justtwo years after its release, by the end of 2008, the iPhone hadgrabbed 13 percent of the smartphone market.) The editors at PC

42 CREATE THE STORYWorld did not create the headline themselves. Apple provided itin its press release, and Steve Jobs reinforced it in his keynotepresentation at Macworld. Apple’s headline was specific, memorable,and consistent: “Apple Reinvents the Phone.”During the keynote presentation in which Jobs unveiled theiPhone, he used the phrase “reinvent the phone” five times.After walking the audience through the phone’s features,he hammered it home once again: “I think when you have achance to get your hands on it, you’ll agree, we have reinventedthe phone.” 8Jobs does not wait for the media to create a headline. Hewrites it himself and repeats it several times in his presentation.Jobs delivers the headline before explaining the detailsof the product. He then describes the product, typically with ademo, and repeats the headline immediately upon ending theexplanation.For example, here is how Jobs introduced GarageBand for thefirst time: “Today we’re announcing something so cool: a fifthapp that will be part of the iLife family. Its name is GarageBand.What is GarageBand? GarageBand is a major new pro musictool. But it’s for everyone.” 9 Jobs’s slide mirrored the headline.When he announced the headline for GarageBand, the slide onthe screen read: “GarageBand. A major new pro music tool.” Jobsfollowed the headline with a longer, one-sentence description ofthe product. “What it does is turn your Mac into a pro-qualitymusical instrument and complete recording studio,” Jobs toldthe audience. This is typical Jobs method for introducing aproduct. He reveals the headline, expands on it, and hammers ithome again and again.The Excitement of the Internet,the Simplicity of MacintoshThe original iMac (the “i” stood for Internet) made getting on theWeb easier than ever. The customer had to go through only twosteps to connect to the Internet. (“There’s no step three,” actorJeff Goldblum declared in one popular ad.) The introduction

CREATE TWITTER-LIKE HEADLINES 43captured the imagination of the computer industry in 1998 andwas one of the most influential computer announcements of thedecade. According to Macworld.com, the iMac redeemed SteveJobs, who had returned to Apple in 1997, and it saved Appleitself at a time when the media had pronounced the companyall but dead. Jobs had to create excitement about a product thatthrew some common assumptions out the window—the iMacshipped with no floppy drive, a bold move at the time and adecision met with considerable skepticism.“iMac combines the excitement of the Internet with the simplicityof Macintosh,” Jobs said as he introduced the computer.The slide on the screen behind Jobs read simply: “iMac. Theexcitement of the Internet. The simplicity of Macintosh.” Jobsthen explained whom the computer was created to attract: consumersand students who wanted to get on the Internet “simplyand fast.” 10The headlines Steve Jobs creates work effectively becausethey are written from the perspective of the user. They answerthe question, Why should I care? (See Scene 2.) Why should youcare about the iMac? Because it lets you experience “the excitementof the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh.”One Thousand Songs in Your PocketApple is responsible for one of the greatest product headlinesof all time. According to author Leander Kahney, Jobs himselfsettled on the description for the original iPod. On October 23,2001, Jobs could have said, “Today we’re introducing a new,ultraportable MP3 player with a 6.5-ounce design and a 5 GBhard drive, complete with Apple’s legendary ease of use.” Ofcourse, Jobs did not say it quite that way. He simply said, “iPod.One thousand songs in your pocket.” 11 No one could describe itbetter in more concise language. One thousand songs that couldfit in your pocket. What else is there to say? One sentence tellsthe story and also answers the question, Why should I care?Many reporters covering the event used the description inthe headline to their articles. Matthew Fordahl’s headline in theAssociated Press on the day of the announcement read, “Apple’s

44 CREATE THE STORYNew iPod Player Puts ‘1,000 Songs in Your Pocket.’ ” 12 Apple’sheadline was memorable because it meets three criteria: it is concise(twenty-seven characters), it is specific (one thousand songs),and it offers a personal benefit (you can carry the songs in yourpocket).Following are some other examples of Apple headlines thatmeet all three criteria. Although some of these are slightly longerthan ten words, they can fit in a Twitter post:» ”The new iTunes store. All songs are DRM-free.” (Changes toiTunes music store, January 2009)» ”The industry’s greenest notebooks.” (New MacBook family ofcomputers, introduced in October 2008)» ”The world’s most popular music player made even better.”(Introduction of the fourth-generation iPod nano, September2008)» ”iPhone 3G. Twice as fast at half the price.” (Introduction ofiPhone 3G, July 2008)» ”It gives Mac users more reasons to love their Mac and PC usersmore reasons to switch.” (Introduction of iLife ‘08, announcedJuly 2007)» ”Apple reinvents the phone.” (Introduction of iPhone, January2007)» ”The speed and screen of a professional desktop system in theworld’s best notebook design.” (Introduction of the seventeeninchMacBook Pro, April 2006)» ”The fastest browser on the Mac and many will feel it’s the bestbrowser ever created.” (Unveiling of Safari, January 2003)Keynote Beats PowerPoint inthe Battle of the HeadlinesMicrosoft’s PowerPoint has one big advantage over Apple’sKeynote presentation software—it’s everywhere. Microsoft commands90 percent of the computing market, and among the10 percent of computer users on a Macintosh, many still use

CREATE TWITTER-LIKE HEADLINES 45Headlines That Changed the WorldWhen the “Google guys,” Sergey Brin and Larry Page, walkedinto Sequoia Capital to seek funding for their new searchenginetechnology, they described their company in onesentence: “Google provides access to the world’s informationin one click.” That’s sixty-three characters, ten words. Anearly investor in Google told me that with those ten words,the investors immediately understood the implications ofGoogle’s technology. Since that day, entrepreneurs who walkinto Sequoia Capital have been asked for their “one-liner,” aheadline that describes the product in a single sentence. Asone investor told me, “If you cannot describe what you do inten words or less, I’m not investing, I’m not buying, I’m notinterested. Period.” Following are some more examples ofworld-changing headlines that are ten words or less:» ”Cisco changes the way we live, work, play, and learn.”—CiscoCEO John Chambers, who repeats this line in interviews andpresentations» ”Starbucks creates a third place between work and home.”—Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, describing his idea to earlyinvestors» ”We see a PC on every desk, in every home.”—Microsoftco-founder Bill Gates, expressing his vision to Steve Ballmer,who, shortly after joining the company, was secondguessinghis decision. Ballmer, currently Microsoft’s CEO,said Gates’s vision convinced him to stick it out. With a personalnet worth of $15 billion, Ballmer is glad he did.PowerPoint software designed for Macs. While the actual numbersof presentations conducted on PowerPoint versus Keynoteare not publicly available, it’s safe to say that the number ofKeynote presentations given daily is minuscule in comparisonwith PowerPoint. Although most presentation designers who

46 CREATE THE STORYare familiar with both formats prefer to work in the more elegantKeynote system, those same designers will tell you that themajority of their client work is done in PowerPoint.As I mentioned in Scene 1, this book is software agnosticbecause all of the techniques apply equally to PowerPoint orKeynote. That said, Keynote is still the application that Steve Jobsprefers, and the Twitter-like headline he created to introduce thesoftware was certainly an attention grabber. “This is anotherbrand-new application that we are announcing here today, andit is called Keynote,” Jobs told the audience at Macworld 2003.Then:Keynote is a presentation app for when your presentationreally counts [slide reads: “When your presentation reallycounts”]. And Keynote was built for me [slide reads: “Builtfor me”]. I needed an application to build the kind of slideshow that I wanted to show you at these Macworld keynotes:very graphics intensive. We built this for me; now I want toshare it with you. We hired a low-paid beta tester to beta testthis app for an entire year, and here he is [audience laughsas screen shows photo of Jobs]. Rather than a bunch of slidesabout slides, let me just show you [walks to stage right todemo the new software]. 13Again, we see a remarkable consistency in all of Apple’s marketingmaterial surrounding the new product launch. The Applepress release for Keynote described it as “The application to usewhen your presentation really counts.” 14 This headline can easilyfit in a Twitter post and, without revealing the details, tellsa story in one sentence. A customer who wanted more detailscould read the press release, watch Jobs’s demonstration, or viewthe online demo on Apple’s website. Still, the headline itselfoffered plenty of information. We learned that it was a newapplication specifically for presentations and made for thosetimes when presentations can make or break your career. As abonus, it was built for Jobs. For many people who give frequent

CREATE TWITTER-LIKE HEADLINES 47presentations, that headline was enough to pique their interestand give the software a try.Journalists learn to write headlines on the first day ofJ-school. Headlines are what persuade you to read particularstories in newspapers, magazines, or blogs. Headlines matter. Asindividuals become their own copywriters for blogs, presentations,Twitter posts, and marketing material, learning to writecatchy, descriptive headlines becomes even more important toprofessional success.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Create your headline, a one-sentence vision statementfor your company, product, or service. The most effectiveheadlines are concise (140 characters maximum), arespecific, and offer a personal benefit.» Consistently repeat the headline in your conversationsand marketing material: presentations, slides, brochures,collateral, press releases, website.» Remember, your headline is a statement that offers youraudience a vision of a better future. It’s not about you.It’s about them.

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N E 5SCENE 5SCEDraw a Road MapToday we are introducing three revolutionary products.—STEVE JOBS, REVEALING THE iPHONEOn January 9, 2007, thousands of Mac faithfulwatched as Steve Jobs delivered an electrifyingannouncement. “Today Apple reinvents the phone,”Jobs said as he revealed the iPhone for the first timeto the public. 1Before delivering that headline, however, Jobs added to thedrama and suspense when he told the audience that Applewould introduce not one, but three revolutionary products. Heidentified the first one as a wide-screen iPod with touch controls.This met with a smattering of applause. Jobs said thesecond product would be a revolutionary mobile phone. Theaudience cheered that announcement. And the third, said Jobs,was a breakthrough Internet communications device. At thispoint, the audience members sat back and waited for what theythought would be further product descriptions and perhapssome demos of the three new devices—but the real thrill was yetto come. Jobs continued, “So, three things: a wide-screen iPodwith touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthroughInternet communications device. An iPod, a phone,and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone—are you gettingit? These are not three separate devices. This is one device,and we are calling it iPhone.” The audience went wild, and Jobsbasked in the glow of nailing yet another product launch thatwould solidify Apple’s role as one of the world’s most innovativecompanies.49

50 CREATE THE STORYJobs draws a verbal road map for his audience, a preview ofcoming attractions. Typically these road maps are outlined ingroups of three—a presentation might be broken into “threeacts,” a product description into “three features,” a demo into“three parts.” Jobs’s love of threes can be traced back at leastas early as the original Macintosh introduction on January 24,1984. Appearing at the Flint Center, in Cupertino, California,Jobs told the audience, “There have only been two milestoneproducts in our industry: the Apple II in 1977 and the IBM PCin 1981. Today we are introducing the third industry milestoneproduct, the Macintosh. And it has turned out insanely great!” 2Verbal guideposts serve as road maps, helping your listenersfollow the story. When coaching clients to appear in the media,I always instruct them to create an easy-to-follow story by clearlyoutlining three or, at the most, four main points before fillingin the details. When this technique is followed, reporters willoften take extensive notes. If the spokesperson misses a point,reporters will ask, “Didn’t you say you had three points? I heardonly two.” A verbal road map of three things will help your listenerskeep their place. See Figure 5.1.Figure 5.1 Jobs sticks to the rule of three in his presentations.ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

DRAW A ROAD MAP 51It is well established that we can hold only small amountsof information in short-term, or “active,” memory. In 1956, BellLabs research scientist George Miller published a classic papertitled “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two.” Millercited studies that showed we have a hard time retaining morethan seven to nine digits in short-term memory. Contemporaryscientists have put the number of items we can easily recallcloser to three or four. So, it should not be surprising that Jobsrarely offers more than three or four key message points. As forthat, in a Steve Jobs presentation, the number three is muchmore common than four. Steve understands that the “rule ofthree” is one of the most powerful concepts in communicationtheory.Why Goldilocks Didn’tEncounter Four BearsListeners like lists. But how many points should you include inthe list?Three is the magic number.Comedians know that three is funnier than two. Writersknow that three is more dramatic than four. Jobs knows thatthree is more persuasive than five. Every great movie, book, play,or presentation has a three-act structure. There were three musketeers,not five. Goldilocks encountered three bears, not four.There were three stooges, not two. Legendary NFL coach VinceLombardi told his players there were three important things inlife: family, religion, and the Green Bay Packers. And the U.S.Declaration of Independence states that Americans have a rightto “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” not simply lifeand liberty. The rule of three is a fundamental principle in writing,in humor, and in a Steve Jobs presentation.The U.S. Marine Corps has conducted extensive researchinto this subject and has concluded that three is more effectivethan two or four. Divisions within the marines are dividedinto three: a corporal commands a team of three; a sergeant

52 CREATE THE STORYcommands three rifle teams in a squad; a captain has three platoons;and so on. If the marines were kind enough to study thisstuff, why should we reinvent the wheel? Go ahead and use it.So few communicators incorporate the rule of three in their presentationsthat you will stand apart simply by doing so. The ruleof three—it works for the marines, it works for Jobs, and it willwork for you.At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6,2005, Jobs announced the switch from IBM’s PowerPC chips toIntel microprocessors. “Let’s talk about transitions,” Jobs said.The Mac in its history has had two major transitions so far[begins to outline three points]. The first one, 68K to PowerPC.That transition happened about ten years ago in the midnineties.The PowerPC set Apple up for the next decade. Itwas a good move. The second major transition has been evenHow the Rule of Three Can Improve Your Golf GameDuring a break from writing this chapter, I took a golf lessonfrom a local coach. Any golfer will tell you that the toughestpart of the game is remembering the dozens of small movesthat ultimately result in a fluid swing: posture, grip, takeaway,balance, hinging, weight shift, follow-through, and othervariables. Problems occur when you think about too manythings at the same time. The marines have found that givingdirections in groups of three makes it easier for soldiers to followthe directions. So, I asked my instructor to give me threedirectives, and three only, to improve my swing. “Fine,” he said.“Today you’re going to focus on closing your hips, shiftingyour weight to the right side on the backswing, and making afull follow-through. So, think hips, shift, follow-through.” Hips,shift, follow. That’s it. The instruction worked wonders, andsince that day, my golf game has improved considerably. Therule of three—good for presentations and good for golf, too!

DRAW A ROAD MAP 53bigger. And that’s the transition from OS 9 to OS X that wejust finished a few years ago. This was a brain transplant. Andalthough these operating systems vary in name by just one[digit], they are worlds apart in technology. OS X is the mostadvanced operating system on the planet, and it has set Appleup for the next twenty years. Today it’s time to begin a thirdtransition. We want to constantly be making the best computersfor you and the rest of our users. It’s time for a thirdtransition. And yes, it’s true. We are going to begin the transitionfrom PowerPC to Intel processors [emphasis added]. 3Revealing the narrative in groups of three provides directionfor your audience. It shows people where you’ve been and whereyou’re going. In the preceding excerpt, Jobs sets the theme of“transitions,” and we assume there will be at least a third transitionbecause, as Jobs explains, the Mac has already had twoof them. He also builds the drama with each point. The firsttransition was a “good move.” The second was “even bigger.” Byextension, the third must be bigger still.Apple’s Three-Legged StoolAt the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in September2008, Jobs displayed a slide of a stool with three legs. “As youknow, there’s three parts to Apple now,” he said. “The first part,of course, is the Mac. The second part is our music businesses,the iPod and iTunes. And the third part is now the iPhone.” Jobsintroduced the executives who would speak about the Mac andthe iPod business. Jobs would take the iPhone portion himself.As he launched into the iPhone discussion, Jobs once againprovided a road map for his listeners—this time, a road mapin four parts: “In a few weeks, it’s going to be the iPhone’s firstbirthday. We shipped our first iPhone on June 29. It was anamazing introduction, the most amazing one we’ve ever had.iPhone has had tremendous critical acclaim. It’s the phone thathas changed phones forever. But we have mountains to climbto reach the next level. What are these challenges? The first,

54 CREATE THE STORYThe USA Today MethodJournalists are trained to distill complex ideas into specificpoints, or takeaways. Read USA Today, America’s most popularnewspaper, and you will find that most articles condense mainpoints into groups of three. When Intel rolled out a faster chipcalled Centrino 2, Michelle Kessler covered it for the newspaper.Kessler outlined three specific benefits and explained whyeach was important—why they matter:» Battery life. “The best laptop in the world isn’t worth muchwhen its battery dies. Intel’s new chip features an ultra lowpower processor and other energy-saving tools.”» Graphics. “Laptops traditionally use low-end graphics chips.But now 26 percent have powerful stand-alone graphics chipsand more people watch movies, play games, and use graphicsintensiveprograms.”» Wireless Internet. “Intel’s new chip line features the latestversion of Wi-Fi, known as 802.11n. Later this year it plans toroll out chips using a new wireless Internet standard, WiMax,which can send a signal over several miles.” 4Kessler proves that you can take the most complex technology—or idea—and describe it in three concise points.Ed Baig also writes for USA Today, reviewing some of thelatest technology products. After testing Microsoft’s newoperating system (Windows 7) in its beta, or test mode, Baigfocused on three highlights:» Getting around. “Icons on the task bar are bigger and youcan arrange them in any way you choose.”» Security. “Windows 7 won’t constantly bog you down withannoying security messages every time you try to load programsor change settings.”» Compatibility. “Even as a beta, Windows 7 recognized myprinter and digital camera.” 5

DRAW A ROAD MAP 55Baig, Kessler, and other top reporters write their materialin manageable chunks to make it easier to read. So does Jobs.He writes the content of his presentation just as a USA Todayreporter would review a product: headline, introduction, threepoints, conclusion.3G networking—faster networking. Second, enterprise support.Third, third-party application support. And fourth, we need tosell iPhone in more countries.”After providing that verbal preview of the four points hewould discuss in more detail, Jobs returned to the first point.“So, as we arrive at iPhone’s first birthday, we’re going to take itto the next level, and today we’re introducing the iPhone 3G.” 6This is a remarkably consistent technique in Jobs’s presentations.He outlines three or four points, returns to the first point,explains each one in more depth, and then summarizes eachpoint. This is a simple recipe for ensuring your audience willretain the information you are sharing.Jobs and Ballmer Sharea Love of ThreesIn January 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer opened theConsumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It was his first keynotespeech at the conference, replacing Bill Gates, who hadmoved on to his philanthropic pursuits. Over fifteen years, ithad become a tradition for Microsoft to open the conference,and Gates had delivered nearly every keynote. As a presenter,Ballmer was much different from Gates. He exuded passion,energy, and excitement. He stripped his talk of esoteric jargonand technical buzzwords. Ballmer also understood the value ofthe rule of three in providing a verbal road map for his listeners.

56 CREATE THE STORYHow the Rule of Three Helped DuPont Face anEconomic MeltdownIn his book Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty,management guru Ram Charan wrote about the global giantDuPont and how it aggressively responded to the economicmeltdown in 2008. Chief executive Chad Holliday met with thecompany’s top leaders and economists, formulating a crisisplan that was implemented within ten days. DuPont had sixtythousand employees at the time. Every employee met with amanager who explained in plain English what the companyhad to accomplish. Employees were then asked to identifythree things that they could do immediately to conserve cashand reduce costs. The company had decided that if employeesfelt overwhelmed, they wouldn’t take any action. Three, however,was a manageable and meaningful number that wouldspark employees to take action.The groups of three just kept coming. Here are a few examplesfrom his keynote:» ”I want to spend time with you talking about the economy, ourindustry, and the work that we are doing at Microsoft.”» ”When I think about opportunities, in my mind I frame itin three key areas. The first is the convergence of the threescreens people use every day: the PC, the phone, and the TV. . . The second major area is how you will interact with yourcomputer and other devices in a more natural way . . . and thelast area of opportunity is what I call connected experiences.”» ”Looking back, there were three things that made Windowsand the PC successful. First, the PC enabled the best applicationsand let them work together. Second, the PC enabledmore choice in hardware. And, third, the Windows experiencehelped us all work together.”

DRAW A ROAD MAP 57» ”We’re on track to deliver the best version of Windows ever.We’re putting in all the right ingredients—simplicity, reliability,and speed.” 7Ballmer used groups of three no fewer than five times in onepresentation, making his speech much easier to follow than anyof Gates’s keynotes. Although there’s no love lost between Appleand Microsoft, both Ballmer and Jobs understand that explainingcomplex technology in language that’s easy to follow is thefirst step to creating excitement among their existing and futurecustomers.The Road Map as an AgendaJobs kicked off Macworld 2008 with the verbal equivalent of anagenda (there are no agenda slides in a Steve Jobs presentation,just verbal road maps). “I’ve got four things I’d like to talk to youabout today, so let’s get started,” he said.The first one is Leopard. I’m thrilled to report that we havedelivered over five million copies of Leopard in the firstninety days. Unbelievable. It’s the most successful release ofMac OS X ever . . . Number two is about the iPhone. Todayhappens to be the two hundreth day that the iPhone wenton sale. I’m extraordinarily pleased that we have sold fourmillion iPhones to date . . . OK, number three. This is a goodone, too. Number three is about iTunes. I’m really pleasedto report that last week we sold our four billionth song. Isn’tthat great? On Christmas Day we set a new record, twentymillion songs in one day. Isn’t that amazing? That’s our newone-day record . . . So, that brings us to number four. Thereis something in the air. What is it? Well, as you know, Applemakes the best notebooks in the business: the MacBook andthe MacBook Pro. Well, today we’re introducing a thirdkind of notebook. It’s called the MacBook Air . . .” 8

58 CREATE THE STORYWhat the World’s Greatest Speechwriters KnowTed Sorensen, John F. Kennedy’s speechwriter, believed thatspeeches should be written for the ear and not for the eye.His speeches would list goals and accomplishments in anumbered sequence to make it easier for listeners. Kennedy’sspeech to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, offers aperfect example of Sorensen’s technique. In calling for a majorcommitment to explore space, Kennedy said:First, I believe that this nation should commit itself toachieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landinga man on the moon and returning him safely toearth. No single space project in this period will bemore impressive to mankind, or more important forthe long-range exploration of space . . . Secondly, anadditional twenty-three million dollars, together withthe seven million already available, will acceleratedevelopment of the Rover nuclear rocket . . . Third, anadditional fifty million dollars will make the most of ourpresent leadership, by accelerating the use of spacesatellites for worldwide communications. Fourth, anadditional seventy-five million dollars will help giveus at the earliest possible time a satellite system forworldwide weather observation. Let it be clear that I amasking the Congress and the country to accept a firmcommitment to a new course of action, a course whichwill last for many years and carry heavy costs . . . If weare to go only halfway, or reduce our sights in the faceof difficulty, in my judgment it would be better not togo at all. 9U.S. president Barack Obama, a fan of Kennedy’s speeches,adopted some of Sorensen’s rules to make his own speechesmore impactful. Here are some samples from Obama’sspeeches that follow the rule of three, beginning with thespeech that put him on the map, his keynote address at the2004 Democratic National Convention:

DRAW A ROAD MAP 59I believe that we can give our middle class relief andprovide working families with a road to opportunity. . . I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homesto the homeless, and reclaim young people in citiesacross America from violence and despair . . . I believethat we have a righteous wind at our backs and that aswe stand on the crossroads of history, we can make theright choices and meet the challenges that face us. 10As illustrated in this excerpt, Obama not only breaks up hisspeeches into paragraphs of three sentences but also oftendelivers three points within sentences.When Obama took the oath of office to become America’sforty-fourth president on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, hedelivered a historical address to some two million people whogathered to watch the speech in person and millions moreon television around the world. Obama made frequent use ofthrees in the speech:» “I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful forthe trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices born byour ancestors.”» “Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered.”» “Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, andeach day brings further evidence that the ways we use energystrengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”» “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, theyare serious, and they are many.”» “Our workers are no less productive than when this crisisbegan, our minds no less inventive, our goods and servicesno less needed than they were last month or last year.” 11Every time Jobs announced a numeral, his slide containedjust one image—the number itself (1, 2, 3, and 4). We willexplore the simplicity of Jobs’s slide design more thoroughly inScene 8, but for now keep in mind that your slides should mirroryour narrative. There is no need to make the slides complicated.

60 CREATE THE STORYJobs not only breaks up his presentations into groups butalso describes features in lists of three or four items. “There arethree major breakthroughs in iPod,” Jobs said in 2005. “The firstone is, it’s ultraportable” [5 GB, one thousand songs in yourpocket]. “Second, we’ve built in Firewire” [Jobs explained howFirewire enabled a download of an entire CD in five to ten seconds,versus five to ten minutes via a USB connection]. “Third,it has extraordinary battery life,” Jobs said. 12 He then describedhow the iPod provided ten hours of battery life, ten hours ofcontinuous music.This chapter could easily have become the longest in thebook, because every Steve Jobs presentation contains verbalroad maps with the rule of three playing a prominent role. Evenwhen he’s not using slides in a traditional keynote presentation,Jobs is speaking in threes. Jobs kicked off his now famousStanford commencement address by saying, “Today I want totell you three stories from my life.” 13 His speech followed theoutline. He told three personal stories from his life, explainedwhat they taught him, and turned those stories into lessons forthe graduates.Applying the Rule of ThreeAs we’ve learned, business leaders often prepare for major televisioninterviews or keynote presentations by structuring theirmessage around three or four key points. I know, because I trainthem to do so! Here is how I would apply the advice from Scenes4 and 5 to prepare for an interview on the topic of this book.First, I would create a headline of no more than 140 characters:“Deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs.” Next, I would writethree big ideas: (1) Create the story, (2) Deliver the experience,and (3) Package the material. Under each of the three ideas, Iwould include rhetorical devices to enhance the narrative: stories,examples, and facts. Following is an example of how anabbreviated interview might unfold:

DRAW A ROAD MAP 61REPORTER: Carmine, tell us more about this book.CARMINE: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs reveals, for thefirst time, how to do deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs.The Apple CEO is considered one of the most electrifyingspeakers in the world today. This book walks you throughthe very steps he uses to sell his ideas. Best of all, anyonecan learn these techniques to improve his or her very nextpresentation.REPORTER: OK, so where would we start?CARMINE: You can deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs [repeatthe headline at least twice in a conversation] if you followthese three steps: First, create the story. Second, deliver theexperience. And third, package the material. Let’s talk aboutthe first step, creating the story . . .Jimmy V’s Famous SpeechOn March 4, 1993, college basketball coach Jimmy Valvanogave one of the most emotional speeches in recent sportshistory. Valvano had led North Carolina State to the NCAAchampionship in 1983. Ten years later, dying of cancer, Valvanoaccepted the Arthur Ashe Courage & Humanitarian Award.Valvano’s use of the rule of three provided the two most poi -g nant moments of the speech (emphasis added):To me, there are three things we all should do everyday. We should do this every day of our lives. Numberone is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number twois think. You should spend some time in thought. Andnumber three is, you should have your emotions movedto tears—could be happiness or joy. But think about it.If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day . . .Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannottouch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannottouch my soul. And those three things are going tocarry on forever. I thank you and God bless all of you. 14

62 CREATE THE STORYAs you can tell in this example, providing a road map of threeparts creates an outline for a short interview, a much longerinterview, or an entire presentation.Your listeners’ brains are working overtime. They’re consumingwords, images, and sensory experiences, not to mentionconducting their own internal dialogues. Make it easy for themto follow your narrative.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Create a list of all the key points you want your audienceto know about your product, service, company, orinitiative.» Categorize the list until you are left with only threemajor message points. This group of three will providethe verbal road map for your pitch or presentation.» Under each of your three key messages, add rhetoricaldevices to enhance the narrative. These could includesome or all of the following: personal stories, facts,examples, analogies, metaphors, and third-partyendorsements.

N E 6SCENE 6SCEIntroduce theAntagonistWill Big Blue dominate the entire computerindustry? Was George Orwell right?—STEVE JOBSIn every classic story, the hero fights the villain. The samestorytelling outline applies to world-class presentations.Steve Jobs establishes the foundation of a persuasive storyby introducing his audience to an antagonist, an enemy, aproblem in need of a solution. In 1984, the enemy was “BigBlue.”Apple is behind one of the most influential television adsin history and one in which we begin to see the hero-villainscenario playing out in Jobs’s approach to messaging. The televisionad, 1984, introduced Macintosh to the world. It ran onlyonce, during the January 22 Super Bowl that same year. TheLos Angeles Raiders were crushing the Washington Redskins,but more people remember the spot than the score.Ridley Scott, of Alien fame, directed the Apple ad, whichbegins with shaven-headed drones listening to their leader (BigBrother) on a giant screen. An athletic blonde, dressed in skimpyeighties-style workout clothes, is running with a sledgehammer.Chased by helmeted storm troopers, the girl throws the hammerinto the screen, which explodes in a blinding light as thedrones sit with their mouths wide open. The spot ends with63

64 CREATE THE STORYa somber announcer saying, “On January 24, Apple Computerwill introduce Macintosh and you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like1984.” 1Apple’s board members had unanimously disliked the commercialand were reluctant to run it. Jobs, of course, supportedit, because he understood the emotional power behind the classicstory structure of the hero and villain. He realized everyprotagonist needs an enemy. In the case of the historic 1984television ad, IBM represented the villain. IBM, a mainframecomputer maker at the time, had made the decision to build acompetitor to the world’s first mass-market home computer, theApple II. Jobs explained the ad in a 1983 keynote presentationto a select group of Apple salespeople who previewed the sixtysecondtelevision spot.“It is now 1984,” said Jobs. “It appears IBM wants it all. Appleis perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. . . IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle toindustry control: Apple. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computerindustry? The entire information age? Was George Orwellright?” 2With that introduction, Jobs stepped aside as the assembledsalespeople became the first public audience to see the commercial.The audience erupted into a thunderous cheer. For anothersixty seconds, Steve remained onstage basking in the adulation,his smile a mile wide. His posture, body language, and facialexpression said it all—I nailed it!Problem + Solution = Classic JobsIntroducing the antagonist (the problem) rallies the audiencearound the hero (the solution). Jobs structures his most excitingpresentations around this classic storytelling device. Forexample, thirty minutes into one of his most triumphant presentations,the launch of the iPhone at Macworld 2007, he spentthree minutes explaining why the iPhone is a product whosetime has come. The villains in this case included all the current

INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 65smartphones on the market, which, Jobs would argue, weren’tvery smart. Listed in the left column of Table 6.1 are excerptsfrom the actual presentation; the right column shows the wordsor describes the images on the accompanying slides. 3 Pay attentionto how the slides act as a complement to the speaker.TABLE 6.1 JOBS’S iPHONE KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONSTEVE’S WORDS”The most advanced phones are called‘smartphones,’ so they say.”“They typically combine a phone pluse-mail plus a baby Internet.”“The problem is they are not so smart andthey are not so easy to use. They’re reallycomplicated. What we want to do is make aleapfrog product that is way smarter thanany mobile device has ever been.”“So, we’re going to reinvent the phone.We’re going to start with a revolutionaryuser interface.”“It is the result of years of research anddevelopment.”“Why do we need a revolutionary userinterface? Here are four smartphones: theMotorola Q, BlackBerry, Palm Treo, NokiaE62—the usual suspects.”“What’s wrong with their user interface? Theproblem with them is in the bottom forty.It’s this stuff right there [points to keyboardson the phones]. They all have thesekeyboards that are there whether you needthem or not. And they all have these controlSTEVE’S SLIDESSmartphoneSmartphonePhone + Email + InternetSmartphoneNot so smart. Not so easyto use.Revolutionary UIRevolutionary UIYears of research &developmentImage of four existingsmartphones: Motorola Q,BlackBerry, Palm Treo, andNokia E62The top half of each imagefades away, leaving justthe bottom half—the keyboardcontinued

66 CREATE THE STORYTABLE 6.1 JOBS’S iPHONE KEYNOTE PRESENTATION (continued)STEVE’S WORDSbuttons that are fixed in plastic and arethe same for every application. Well, everyapplication wants a slightly different userinterface, a slightly optimized set of buttonsjust for it. And what happens if you think ofa great idea six months from now? You can’tadd a button to these things. They’re alreadyshipped. So, what do you do?”“What we’re going to do is get rid ofall these buttons and just make a giantscreen.”“How are we going to communicate withthis? We don’t want to carry around amouse. So, what are we going to do? Astylus, right? We’re going to use a stylus.”“No [laughs]. Who wants a stylus? You haveto get them out, put them away—you losethem. Yuck. Nobody wants a stylus.”“So, let’s not use a stylus. We’re going to usethe best pointing device in the world—apointing device that we’re all born with.We’re born with ten of them. We’ll use ourfingers.”“We have invented a new technology called‘multi-touch,’ which is phenomenal.”“It works like magic. You don’t need astylus. It’s far more accurate than any touchdisplay that’s ever been shipped. It ignoresunintended touches. It’s supersmart. Youcan do multi-finger gestures on it, and boyhave we patented it!” [laughter]STEVE’S SLIDESImage of iPhoneImage of iPhone on its side;a stylus fades inWords appear next toimage:Who wants a stylus?Stylus fades out of frameas image of index fingerappears next to iPhoneFinger fades out, andwords appear:Multi-TouchWords reveal upper right:Works like magicNo stylusFar more accurateIgnores unintendedtouchesMulti-finger gesturesPatented

INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 67Make note of how Jobs asks rhetorical questions to advancethe story. “Why do we need a revolutionary user interface?”he asked before introducing the problem. He even raises problemsto his own solution. When he introduced the conceptof replacing the keyboard with a touch screen, he rhetoricallyasked, “How are we going to communicate with this?” His readyanswer was, “We’re going to use the best pointing device in theworld . . . our fingers.”Nobody really cares about your product or Apple’s productsor Microsoft’s or any other company’s, for that matter. Whatpeople care about is solving problems and making their livesa little better. As in the smartphone example in Table 6.1, Jobsdescribes the pain they’re feeling, gives them a reason for theirpain (usually caused by competitors), and, as you will learn inScene 7, offers a cure.Making His Case to CNBC“Why in the world would Apple want to jump into the handsetmarket with so much competition and so many players?” askedCNBC’s Jim Goldman in one of the few interviews Jobs grantedimmediately after the iPhone announcement. Jobs answered thequestion by posing a problem in need of a solution: “We used allthe handsets out there, and boy is it frustrating. It’s a categorythat needs to be reinvented. Handsets need to be more powerfuland much easier to use. We thought we could contributesomething. We don’t mind if there are other companies makingproducts. The fact is there were one billion handsets sold in2006. If we just got 1 percent market share, that’s ten millionunits. We’ve reinvented the phone and completely changed theexpectations for what you can carry in your pocket.”“What message is this sending to your competitors?” askedGoldman.“We’re a product company. We love great products. Inorder to explain what our product is, we have to contrast it towhat products are out there right now and what people use,”said Jobs. 4 This last sentence reveals Jobs’s approach to crafting

68 CREATE THE STORYa persuasive story. Explanations of new products or servicesrequire context, a relevance to a problem in your customer’s lifethat is causing that person “pain.” Once the pain is established,your listener will be much more receptive to a product or servicethat will alleviate that pain.The Apple ReligionIn his book Buyology, marketing guru Martin Lindstrom equatesApple’s message with the same powerful ideas that propel widespreadreligions. Both appeal to a common vision and a specificenemy.“Most religions have a clear vision,” writes Lindstrom. “Bythat I mean they are unambiguous in their missions, whetherit’s to achieve a certain state of grace or achieve a spiritual goal.And, of course, most companies have unambiguous missions aswell. Steve Jobs’s vision dates back to the mid-1980s when hesaid, ‘Man is the creator of change in this world. As such heshould be above systems and structures, and not subordinate tothem.’ Twenty years and a few million iPods later, the companystill pursues this vision.” 5According to Lindstrom, who spent years studying thecommon traits of lasting brands, religions and brands such asApple have another quality in common: the idea of conqueringa shared enemy. “Having an identifiable enemy gives us thechance not only to articulate and showcase our faith, but alsoto unite ourselves with our fellow believers . . . this us-versusthemstrategy attracts fans, incites controversy, creates loyalty,and gets us thinking—and arguing—and, of course, buying.” 6Will It Eat Me?Establishing the antagonist early is critical to persuasion, becauseour brains needs a bucket—a category—in which to place a newidea. Think about it this way: your brain craves meaning beforedetails. According to scientist John Medina, our brains wereformed to see the big picture. Medina says that when primitive

INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 69man saw a saber-toothed tiger, he asked himself, “Will it eatme?” and not “How many teeth does it have?”The antagonist gives your audience the big picture. “Don’tstart with the details. Start with the key ideas and, in a hierarchicalfashion, form the details around these larger notions,”writes Medina in his book Brain Rules. 7 In presentations, startwith the big picture—the problem—before filling in the details(your solution).Apple unveiled the Safari Web browser during Macworld2003, designating it the fastest browser on the Mac. Safariwould join several other browsers vying for attention in the faceof Microsoft’s juggernaut—Internet Explorer. At his persuasivebest, Jobs set up the problem—introducing the antagonist—simply by asking a rhetorical question: “Why do we need ourown browser?” 8 Before demonstrating the new features—fillingin the details—he needed to establish a reason for the product’sexistence.Jobs told the audience that there were two areas in whichcompetitors such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, and others fellshort: speed and innovation. In terms of speed, Jobs said Safariwould load pages three times faster than Internet Explorer onthe Mac. In the area of innovation, Jobs discussed the limitationsof current browsers, including the fact that Google searchwas not provided in the main toolbar and that organizing bookmarksleft a lot to be desired. “What we found in our research isthat people don’t use bookmarks. They don’t use favorites verymuch because this stuff is complicated and nobody has figuredout how to use it,” Jobs said. Safari would fix the problems byincorporating Google search into the main toolbar and addingfeatures that would allow users to more easily navigate back toprevious sites or favorite Web pages.One simple sentence is all you need to introduce the antagonist:“Why do you need this?” This one question allows Jobs toreview the current state of the industry (whether it be browsers,operating systems, digital music, or any other facet) and toset the stage for the next step in his presentation, offering thesolution.

70 CREATE THE STORYThe $3,000-a-Minute PitchDuring one week in September, dozens of entrepreneurspitch their start-ups to influential groups of media, experts,and investors at two separate venues—TechCrunch 50 inSan Francisco and DEMO in San Diego. For start-up founders,these high-stakes presentations mean the difference betweensuccess and obsolescence. TechCrunch organizers believethat eight minutes is the ideal amount of time in which tocommunicate an idea. If you cannot express your idea in eightminutes, the thinking the goes, you need to refine your idea.DEMO gives its presenters even less time—six minutes. DEMOalso charges an $18,500 fee to present, or $3,000 per minute. Ifyou had to pay $3,000 a minute to pitch your idea, how wouldyou approach it?The consensus among venture capitalists who attendthe presentations is that most entrepreneurs fail to createan intriguing story line because they jump right into theirproduct without explaining the problem. One investor toldme, “You need to create a new space in my brain to hold theinformation you’re about to deliver. It turns me off whenentrepreneurs offer a solution without setting up the problem.They have a pot of coffee—their idea—without a cupto pour it in.” Your listeners’ brains have only so much roomto absorb new information. It’s as if most presenters try tosqueeze 2 MB of data into a pipe that carries 128 KB. It’ssimply too much.A company called TravelMuse had one of the most outstandingpitches in DEMO 2008. Founder Kevin Fleiss opened hispitch this way: “The largest and most mature online retail segmentis travel, totaling more than $90 billion in the United Statesalone [establishes category]. We all know how to book a triponline. But booking is the last 5 percent of the process [beginsto introduce problem]. The 95 percent that comes before booking—decidingwhere to go, building a plan—is where all theheavy lifting happens. At TravelMuse we make planning easy byseamlessly integrating content with trip-planning tools to providea complete experience [offers solution].” 9 By introducing

INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 71the category and the problem before introducing the solution,Fleiss created the cup to pour the coffee into.Investors are buying a stake in ideas. As such, they wantto know what pervasive problem the company’s productaddresses. A solution in search of a problem carries far lessappeal. Once the problem and solution are established, investorsfeel comfortable moving on to questions regarding thesize of the market, the competition, and the business model.The Ultimate Elevator PitchThe problem need not take long to establish. Jobs generallytakes just a few minutes to introduce the antagonist. You cando so in as little as thirty seconds. Simply create a one-sentenceanswer for the following four questions: (1) What do you do?(2) What problem do you solve? (3) How are you different? (4)Why should I care?When I worked with executives at LanguageLine, in Monterey,California, we crafted an elevator pitch based on answers to thefour questions. If we did our job successfully, the following pitchshould tell you a lot about the company: “LanguageLine is theworld’s largest provider of phone interpretation services for companieswho want to connect with their non-English-speakingcustomers [what it does]. Every twenty-three seconds, someonewho doesn’t speak English enters this country [the problem].When he or she calls a hospital, a bank, an insurance company, or911, it’s likely that a LanguageLine interpreter is on the other end[how it’s different]. We help you talk to your customers, patients,or sales prospects in 150 languages [why you should care].”The Antagonist: A ConvenientStorytelling ToolSteve Jobs and former U.S. vice president turned global warmingexpert Al Gore share three things in common: a commitment

72 CREATE THE STORYto the environment, a love for Apple (Al Gore sits on Apple’sboard), and an engaging presentation style.Al Gore’s award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth,is a presentation designed with Apple’s storytelling devices inmind. Gore gives his audience a reason to listen by establishinga problem everyone can agree on (critics may differ on the solution,but the problem is generally accepted).Gore begins his presentation—his story—by setting the stagefor his argument. In a series of colorful images of Earth takenfrom various space missions, he not only gets audiences to appreciatethe beauty of our planet but also introduces the problem.Gore opens with a famous photograph called “Earthrise,” thefirst look at Earth from the moon’s surface. Then Gore revealsa series of photographs in later years showing signs of globalwarming such as melting ice caps, receding shorelines, andhurricanes. “The ice has a story to tell us,” he says. Gore thendescribes the villain in more explicit terms: the burning of fossilfuels such as coal, gas, and oil has dramatically increased theamount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere, causingglobal temperatures to rise.In one of the most memorable scenes of the documentary,Gore explains the problem by showing two colored lines (redand blue) representing levels of carbon dioxide and average temperaturesgoing back six hundred thousand years. According toGore, “When there is more carbon dioxide, the temperature getswarmer.” He then reveals a slide that shows the graph climbingto the highest level of carbon dioxide in our planet’s history—which represents where the level is today. “Now if you’ll bearwith me, I want to really emphasize this next point,” Gore saysas he climbs onto a mechanical lift. He presses a button, andthe lift carries him what appears to be at least five feet. He isnow parallel with the point on the graph representing currentCO 2emissions. This elicits a small laugh from his audience. It’sfunny but insightful at the same time. “In less than fifty years,”he goes on to say, “it’s going to continue to go up. When some ofthese children who are here are my age, here’s where it’s goingto be.” At this point, Gore presses the button again, and the lift

INTRODUCE THE ANTAGONIST 73carries him higher for about ten seconds. As he’s tracking thegraph upward, he turns to the audience and says, “You’ve heardof ‘off the charts’? Well, here’s where we’re going to be in lessthan fifty years.” 10 It’s funny, memorable, and powerful at thesame time. Gore takes facts, figures, and statistics and bringsthem to life.Gore uses many of the same presentation and rhetorical techniquesthat we see in a Steve Jobs presentation. Among themare the introduction of the enemy, or the antagonist. Both menintroduce an antagonist early, rallying the audience around acommon purpose. In a Jobs presentation, once the villain isclearly established, it’s time to open the curtain to reveal thecharacter who will save the day . . . the conquering hero.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Introduce the antagonist early in your presentation.Always establish the problem before revealing yoursolution. You can do so by painting a vivid picture ofyour customers’ pain point. Set up the problem by asking,“Why do we need this?”» Spend some time describing the problem in detail. Makeit tangible. Build the pain.» Create an elevator pitch for your product using the fourstepmethod described in this chapter. Pay particularattention to question number 2, “What problem do yousolve?” Remember, nobody cares about your product.People care about solving their problems.

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N E 7SCENE 7SCEReveal theConquering HeroThe only problem with Microsoft is theyjust have no taste. And I don’t mean that ina small way. I mean that in a big way.—STEVE JOBSSteve Jobs is a master at creating villains—the moretreacherous, the better. Once Jobs introduces the antagonistof the moment (the limitation to current products),he introduces the hero, revealing the solution that willmake your life easier and more enjoyable. In other words, anApple product arrives in time to save the day. IBM played theantagonist in the 1984 television ad, as discussed in Scene 6.Jobs revealed the ad for the first time to a group of internal salespeopleat an event in the fall of 1983.Before showing the ad, Jobs spent several minutes painting“Big Blue” into a character bent on world domination. (It helpedthat IBM was known as Big Blue at the time. The similar ring toBig Brother was not lost on Jobs.) Jobs made Big Blue look moremenacing than Hannibal Lecter:It is 1958. IBM passes up the chance to a buy a new, fledglingcompany that has invented a new technology called xerography.Two years later, Xerox is born, and IBM has been kickingitself ever since. It is ten years later. The late sixties. DigitalEquipment, DEC, and others invent the minicomputer. IBM75

76 CREATE THE STORYdismisses the minicomputer as too small to do serious computingand therefore unimportant to their business. DECgrows to become a multihundred-million-dollar corporation,while IBM finally enters the minicomputer market. Itis now ten years later. The late seventies. In 1977, Apple, ayoung, fledgling company on the West Coast, invents theApple II, the first personal computer as we know it today[introduces the hero]. IBM dismisses the personal computeras too small to do serious computing and unimportant totheir business [the villain overlooking the hero’s qualities].The early eighties. In 1981, Apple II has become the world’smost popular computer, and Apple has grown into a $300million company, becoming the fastest-growing corporationin American business history. With over fifty competitorsvying for a share, IBM enters the personal computer marketin November 1981, with the IBM PC. 1983. Apple and IBMemerge as the industry’s strongest competitors, each sellingover $1 billion in personal computers in 1983 [David hasnow matched Goliath]. The shakeout is in full swing. Thefirst major firm goes bankrupt, with others teetering on thebrink. It is now 1984. It appears IBM wants it all [the herois about to spring into action]. Apple is perceived to be theonly hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers initiallywelcoming IBM with open arms now fear an IBM-dominatedand -controlled future. They are increasingly and desperatelyturning back to Apple as the only force that will ensure theirfuture freedom. 1The audience broke out into wild cheers as Jobs created a classicshowdown. Jobs played his best James Bond. Just as the villainis about to destroy the world, Bond—or Jobs—enters the sceneand calmly saves the day. Ian Fleming would be proud.The Hero’s MissionThe hero’s mission in a Steve Jobs presentation is not necessarilyto slay the bad guy, but to make our lives better. The

REVEAL THE CONQUERING HERO 77introduction of the iPod on October 23, 2001, demonstrates thissubtle but important difference.It helps to understand the state of the digital music industryat the time. People were carrying portable CD players that lookedmonstrous compared with today’s tiny iPods. The few existingdigital music players were big and clunky or simply not that usefuldue to a small storage capacity that allowed only a few dozensongs. Some products, such as the Nomad Jukebox, were based ona 2.5-inch hard drive and, while portable, were heavy and werepainfully slow to transfer songs from a PC. Battery life was so shortthat the devices were pretty much useless. Recognizing a problemin need of a solution, Jobs entered as the conquering hero.“Why music?” Jobs asked rhetorically.“We love music. And it’s always good to do something youlove. More importantly, music is a part of everyone’s life. Musichas been around forever. It will always be around. This is nota speculative market. And because it’s a part of everyone’s life,it’s a very large target market all around the world. But interestinglyenough, in this whole new digital-music revolution, thereis no market leader. No one has found a recipe for digital music.We found the recipe.”Once Jobs whetted the audience’s appetite by announcingthat Apple had found the recipe, he had set the stage. His nextstep would be to introduce the antagonist. He did so by takinghis audience on a tour of the current landscape of portable musicplayers. Jobs explained that if you wanted to listen to music onthe go, you could buy a CD player that held ten to fifteen songs,a flash player, an MP3 player, or a hard-drive device such as theJukebox. “Let’s look at each one,” Jobs said.A CD player costs about $75 and holds about ten to fifteensongs on a CD. That’s about $5 a song. You can buy a flashplayer for $150. It holds about ten to fifteen songs, or about$10 a song. You can go buy an MP3 CD player that costs$150, and you can burn up to 150 songs, so you get down toa dollar a song. Or you can buy a hard-drive Jukebox playerfor $300. It holds about one thousand songs and costs thirty

78 CREATE THE STORYcents a song. We studied all these, and that’s where we wantto be [points to “hard drive” category on slide]. We are introducinga product today that takes us exactly there, and thatproduct is called iPod.With that, Jobs introduced the hero, the iPod. The iPod, hesaid, is an MP3 music player that plays CD-quality music. “Butthe biggest thing about iPod is that it holds a thousand songs.This is a quantum leap because for most people, it’s their entiremusic library. This is huge. How many times have you gone onthe road and realized you didn’t bring the CD you wanted tolisten to? But the coolest thing about iPod is your entire musiclibrary fits in your pocket. This was never possible before.” 2 Byreinforcing the fact that one’s entire music library could fit in apocket, Jobs reinforces the hero’s (iPod) most innovative quality,reminding the audience that this was never possible until Appleappeared to save the day.After the iPod’s introduction, Knight-Ridder columnist MikeLangberg wrote an article in which he pointed out that Creative(the maker of the original Nomad Jukebox) saw the opportunityin portable music players before Apple and unveiled a 6 GBhard-drive player in September 2000; Apple followed with itsfirst iPod a year later. “But,” he noted, “Creative lacks Apple’snot-so-secret weapon: founder, chairman, and chief evangelist,Steve Jobs.” 3”I’m a Mac.” “I’m a PC.”The “Get a Mac” advertising campaign kicked off in 2006 andquickly became one of the most celebrated and recognizabletelevision campaigns in recent corporate history. ComedianJohn Hodgman plays “the PC,” while actor Justin Long plays the“Mac guy.” Both are standing against a stark white background,and the ads typically revolve around a story line in which thePC character is stuffy, slow, and frustrated, whereas the Mac hasa friendly, easygoing personality. The ads play out the villain(PC) and hero (Mac) plot in thirty-second vignettes.

REVEAL THE CONQUERING HERO 79In one early ad (Angel/Devil), the Mac character gives PC aniPhoto book. An “angel” and a “devil” appear (the PC characterdressed in a white suit and a red suit). The angel encourages PCto compliment Mac, while the devil prods PC to rip the book inhalf. The metaphor is clear. I’m a Mac/I’m a PC could be titled“I’m the good guy/I’m the bad guy.” 4Once the hero is established, the benefit must be made clear.The one question that matters to people—Why should I care?—must be answered immediately. In an ad titled Out of the Box,both characters pop out of boxes. The conversation goes likethis:MAC: Ready to get started?PC: Not quite. I’ve got a lot to do. What’s your big plan?MAC: Maybe make a home movie, create a website, try out mybuilt-in camera. I can do it all right out of the box. Whatabout you?PC: First, I’ve got to download those new drivers, I have to erasethe trial software that came on my hard drive, and I’ve got alot of manuals to read.MAC: Sounds like you’ve got a lot of stuff to do before youdo any stuff. I’m going to get started, because I’m kind ofexcited. Let me know when you’re ready. [Jumps out of box]PC: Actually, the rest of me is in some other boxes. I’ll meet upwith you later.Some observers have criticized Apple’s campaign, saying itsmacked of smug superiority. Whether you like the ads or hatethem, there is no question they are effective, if only to keeppeople talking about Apple. In fact, the ads were so successfulthat Microsoft countered with an ad campaign of its ownshowing famous and not-so-famous people in all walks of lifeproudly proclaiming, “I’m a PC.” But Apple had landed the firstpunch, painting the PC as nerdy and Apple as the cool kid youreally want to be like. The Microsoft ads are fun to watch butlack the emotional punch of Apple’s ads, for one reason—there’sno villain.

80 CREATE THE STORYProblem and Solution in Thirty SecondsWith more than ten thousand applications available for theiPhone, the App Store has been a resounding success for Apple.The company features some individual apps in television andprint ads for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The television adsare effective because in thirty seconds they paint a picture of aproblem and offer a solution.For example, in one ad for an app called Shazam, a narratorsays, “You know when you don’t know what song is playing andit’s driving you crazy? [introduces problem] With the Shazamapp, you just hold up your iPhone to the song, and within secondsyou will know who sings it and how to get it.” 5 The taglinesare always the same: “That’s the iPhone. Solving life’s dilemmasone app at a time.”In thirty seconds, the commercials succeed in raising a problemand solving those problems one app at a time. The adsprove that establishing problems and offering solutions neednot be time consuming. Don’t spend too much time getting tothe punch line.Jobs Doesn’t Sell Computers;He Sells an ExperienceAfter identifying the villain and introducing the hero, the nextstep in the Apple narrative is to show how the hero clearly offersthe victim—the consumer—an escape from the villain’s grip.The solution must be simple and free of jargon. Visit the Applesite, for instance, and you will find the top reasons “why you’lllove a Mac.” 6 The list includes specific benefits and largely avoidscomplicated technical language. As a case in point, instead ofsaying that a MacBook Pro comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 2 GB, 1,066 MHz, DDR3 SDRAM, and a 250 GB Serial ATA5,400 rpm, the site lists direct benefits to the customer: “It’s gorgeousinside and out; it does what a PC does, only better; it hasthe world’s most advanced operating system, and then some; it’sa pleasure to buy and own.” You see, your target customers are

REVEAL THE CONQUERING HERO 81not buying a 2.4 GHz multicore processor. They are buying theexperience the processor provides.Unlike his competitors, Jobs largely avoids mind-numbingdata, stats, and jargon in his presentations. During Macworld2006, Jobs added his famous “One more thing” signature phrasenear the end of the presentation. The one more thing turnedout to be the new MacBook Pro with an Intel Core 2 microprocessor,marking the first Intel chips in Mac notebooks. Jobs tooka few minutes to clearly outline the problem and introduce thehero’s tangible benefits, in plain and simple language.“There’s been this pesky little problem in the PowerBooks,”Jobs said.“It’s not a secret that we’ve been trying to shoehorn a G5[IBM microprocessor] into the PowerBook and have been unableto do so because of its power consumption. It’s unrealistic insuch a small package. We’ve done everything possible engineeringwise.We’ve consulted every possible higher authority [showsa slide with a photograph of the pope, drawing a huge laugh].”Replacing the existing microprocessor with an Intel CoreDuo, Jobs explained, yielded much better performance in asmaller package.Today we are introducing a new notebook computer we arecalling the MacBook Pro. It has an Intel Core Duo chip in it,the same as we’re putting in the new iMac, which means therewill be dual processors in every MacBook Pro. What does thisyield? It’s four to five times faster than the PowerBookG4.These things are screamers . . . The new MacBook Pro is thefastest Mac notebook ever. It’s also the thinnest. It’s got someamazing new features. It has a 15.4-inch wide-screen displaythat is as bright as our cinema displays. It’s a gorgeous display.It’s got an iSight camera built in. Now you can havevideoconferencing right out of the box on the go. It’s great.Videoconferencing to go. This is heaven. 7You may or may not agree that a portable webcam is “heaven,”but Jobs knows his audience and voices what is, to those present,a serious problem in need of a solution.

82 CREATE THE STORYThis skill, the ability to create a villain and sell the benefitbehind the hero’s solution, is a Steve Jobs messaging techniquethat appears in nearly every presentation and interview hegives. When Jobs agreed to be interviewed for Smithsonian’soral and video history series, he said that perseverance separatesthe successful entrepreneurs from the nonsuccessful ones.Perseverance, he said, comes from passion. “Unless you havea lot of passion about this, you’re not going to survive. You’regoing to give it up. So, you’ve got to have an idea or a problemor a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about.Otherwise, you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick itthrough. I think that’s half the battle right there.” 8Jobs is the Indiana Jones of business. Just as great movie charactersvanquish the villain, Jobs identifies a common enemy,conquers that enemy, and wins over the hearts and minds of hisaudience as he walks off into the sunset, leaving the world a betterplace.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Describe the state of the industry (or product category)as it currently stands, followed by your vision of where itcould be.» Once you have established the antagonist—your customers’pain point—describe in plain English how yourcompany, product, or service offers a cure for that pain.» Remember, Steve Jobs believes that unless you’re passionateabout a problem that you want to make right,you won’t have the perseverance to stick it out.

NTE R M ISSION 1INTERMISSION 1IObey the Ten-Minute RuleYour audience checks out after ten minutes. Not ineleven minutes, but ten. We know this valuable factthanks to new research into cognitive functioning.Simply put, the brain gets bored. According to molecularbiologist John Medina, “The brain seems to be makingchoices according to some stubborn timing pattern, undoubtedlyinfluenced by both culture and gene.” 1 Medina sayspeer-reviewed studies confirm the ten-minute rule, as do hisown observations. In every college course Medina teaches, heasks the same question: “Given a class of medium interest, nottoo boring and not too exciting, when do you start glancing atthe clock, wondering when the class will be over?” The answeris always exactly the same—ten minutes.Steve Jobs does not give the brain time to get bored. In a thirtyminuteperiod, his presentations include demonstrations, a secondor even third speaker, and video clips. Jobs is well aware that evenhis gifts of persuasion are no match for a tired brain constantlyseeking new stimuli.Exactly ten minutes into his presentation at Macworld 2007—and not a second more—Jobs revealed a new Apple televisioncommercial for iTunes and iPods (the one with a dark silhouetteof people dancing in front of brightly colored backgrounds—the silhouettes are holding iPods, and the stark white earphonesnoticeably stick out). “Isn’t that great?” Jobs said as the commercialended. 2 Jobs essentially provided an “intermission” between83

84 CREATE THE STORYthe first act of his presentation (music) and the second (thelaunch of Apple TV, a product designed to play iTunes contenton a widescreen TV).Obey the ten-minute rule and give your listeners’ brains abreak. Here we go . . . on to Act 2: delivering the experience.

ACT 2Deliver theExperienceSteve Jobs does not deliver a presentation. He offers anexperience. Imagine visiting New York City to watch anaward-winning play on Broadway. You would expect tosee multiple characters, elaborate stage props, stunningvisual backgrounds, and one glorious moment when you knewthat the money you spent on the ticket was well worth it. In Act2, you will discover that a Steve Jobs presentation contains eachof these elements, helping Jobs create a strong emotional connectionbetween himself and his audience.Just as in Act 1, each scene will be followed by a summaryof specific and tangible lessons you can easily apply today.Following is a short description of each scene in this act:» SCENE 8: “Channel Their Inner Zen.” Simplification is akey feature in all of Apple’s designs. Jobs applies the sameapproach to the way he creates his slides. Every slide is simple,visual, and engaging.» SCENE 9: “Dress Up Your Numbers.” Data is meaninglesswithout context. Jobs makes statistics come alive and, mostimportant, discusses numbers in a context that is relevant tohis audience.85

86 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE» SCENE 10: “Use ‘Amazingly Zippy’ Words.” The “meremortals” who experience an “unbelievable” Steve Jobs presentationfind it “cool,” “amazing,” and “awesome.” These are justsome of the zippy words Jobs uses frequently. Find out whyJobs uses the words he does and why they work.» SCENE 11: “Share the Stage.” Apple is a rare company whosefortunes are closely tied to its cofounder. Despite the fact thatApple has a deep bench of brilliant leaders, many observerssay Apple is a one-man show. Perhaps. But Jobs treats presentationsas a symphony.» SCENE 12: “Stage Your Presentation with Props.”Demonstrations play a very important supporting role in everyJobs presentation. Learn how to deliver demos with pizzazz.» SCENE 13: “Reveal a ‘Holy Shit’ Moment.” From his earliestpresentations, Jobs had a flair for the dramatic. Just whenyou think you have seen all there is to see or heard all there isto hear, Jobs springs a surprise. The moment is planned andscripted for maximum impact.

N E 8SCENE 8SCEChannel TheirInner ZenSimplicity is the ultimate sophistication.—STEVE JOBS, QUOTING LEONARDO DA VINCISimplicity is one of the most important concepts in allApple designs—from computers, to music players, tophones, and even to the retail store experience. “As technologybecomes more complex, Apple’s core strength ofknowing how to make very sophisticated technology comprehensibleto mere mortals is in ever greater demand,” 1 Jobs tolda New York Times columnist writing a piece about the iPod in2003.Apple’s design guru, Jony Ive, was interviewed for the sameNew York Times article and noted that Jobs wanted to keep theoriginal iPod free of clutter and complexity. What the teamremoved from the device was just as important as what theykept in. ‘’What’s interesting is that out of that simplicity, andalmost that unashamed sense of simplicity, and expressing it,came a very different product. But difference wasn’t the goal. It’sactually very easy to create a different thing. What was excitingis starting to realize that its difference was really a consequenceof this quest to make it a very simple thing,” 2 Ive said. Accordingto Ive, complexity would have meant the iPod’s demise.Jobs makes products easy to use by eliminating features andclutter. This process of simplification translates to the way Jobs87

88 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEdesigns his slides as well. “It’s laziness on the presenter’s partto put everything on one slide,” writes Nancy Duarte. 3 Wheremost presenters add as many words as possible to a slide, Jobsremoves and removes and removes.A Steve Jobs presentation is strikingly simple, visual, anddevoid of bullet points. That’s right—no bullet points. Ever. Ofcourse, this raises the question, would a PowerPoint presentationwithout bullets still be a PowerPoint presentation? The answer isyes, and a much more interesting one. New research into cognitivefunctioning—how the brain works—proves that bulletpoints are the least effective way to deliver important information.Neuroscientists are finding that what passes as a typicalpresentation is usually the worst way to engage your audience.“The brain is fundamentally a lazy piece of meat,” writes Dr.Gregory Berns in Iconoclast. 4 In other words, the brain doesn’tlike to waste energy; it has evolved to be as efficient as possible.Presentation software such as PowerPoint makes it far too easyto overload the brain, causing it to work way too hard. OpenPowerPoint, and the standard slide template has room for a titleand subtitles, or bullets. If you are like most presenters, you writea title to the slide and add a bullet, a subbullet, and often a subsubbullet.The result looks like the sample slide in Figure 8.1.Title■ Bullet■ Subbullet■ Sub-subbullet■ Bullet■ Subbullet■ Sub-subbullet■ Bullet■ Subbullet■ Sub-subbullet- Really in the weedsFigure 8.1 A typical, boring PowerPoint template.

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 89This slide format gives me the willies. It should scare the heckout of you, too. Designer Garr Reynolds calls these creations“slideuments,” an attempt to merge documents with slides.“People think they are being efficient and simplifying things,”according to Reynolds. “A kind of kill-two-birds-with-one-stoneapproach. Unfortunately, the only thing ‘killed’ is effectivecommunication.” 5 Reynolds argues that PowerPoint, used effectively,can complement and enhance a presentation. He is not infavor of ditching PowerPoint. He is, however, in favor of ditchingthe use of “ubiquitous” bulleted-list templates found in bothPowerPoint and Keynote. “And it’s long past time that we realizedthat putting the same information on a slide in text formthat is coming out of our mouths usually does not help—in fact,it hurts our message.” 6Creating Steve Jobs–like slides will make you stand out ina big way, if only because so few people create slides the wayhe does. Your audience will be shocked and pleased, quitesimply because nobody else does it. Before we look at how hedoes it, though, let’s explore why he does it. Steve practices ZenBuddhism. According to biographers Jeffrey Young and WilliamSimon, Jobs began studying Zen in 1976. 7 A Zen Buddhist monkeven officiated at his wedding to Lauren Powell in 1991.A central principle of Zen is a concept called kanso, or simplicity.According to Reynolds, “The Japanese Zen arts teach us thatit is possible to express great beauty and convey powerful messagesthrough simplification.” 8 Simplicity and the eliminationNo More PencilsWe’ve been trained since youth to replace paying attentionwith taking notes. That’s a shame. Your actions should demandattention. (Hint: bullets demand note taking. The minute youput bullets on the screen you are announcing, “Write this down,but don’t really pay attention to it now.”) People don’t take noteswhen they go to the opera. 9—SETH GODIN, SETH’S BLOG

90 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEof clutter is a design component that Jobs incorporates into hisproducts and slides. In fact, most everything about his approachto life is all-out Zen.In 1982, photographer Diana Walker took a portrait of Jobsin the living room of his house. The room was huge, with a fireplaceand ceiling-to-floor windows. Jobs sat on a small rug ona wooden floor. A lamp stood next to Jobs. Behind him were arecord player and several albums, some of which were strewn onthe floor. Now, Jobs could surely have afforded some furniture.He was, after all, worth more than $100 million when the photographwas taken. Jobs brings the same minimalist aesthetic toApple’s products. “One of the most important parts of Apple’sdesign process is simplification,” writes Leander Kahney in InsideSteve’s Brain. 10“Jobs,” says Kahney, “is never interested in technology fortechnology’s sake. He never loads up on bells and whistles,cramming features into a product because they’re easy to add.Just the opposite. Jobs pares back the complexity of his productsuntil they are as simple and as easy to use as possible.” 11When Apple first started in the 1970s, the company’s ads hadto stimulate demand for computers among ordinary consumerswho, frankly, didn’t quite see the need for these new devices.According to Kahney, “The ads were written in simple, easyto-understandlanguage with none of the technical jargon thatdominates competitors’ ads, who, after all, were trying to appealto a completely different market—hobbyists.” 12 Jobs has kept hismessages simple ever since.The influential German painter Hans Hofmann once said,“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessaryso that the necessary may speak.” By removing clutter—extraneousinformation—from his products and presentations, Jobsachieves the ultimate goal: ease of use and clarity.Macworld 2008: The Art of SimplicityTo gain a fuller appreciation of Jobs’s simple slide creations, Ihave constructed a table of excerpts from his Macworld 2008keynote presentation. The column on the left in Table 8.1

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 91contains his actual words, and the column on the right containsthe text on the accompanying slides. 13In four slides, Jobs’s presentation contained fewer words byfar than what most other presenters cram onto one slide alone.Cognitive researchers like John Medina at the University ofWashington have discovered that the average PowerPoint slidecontains forty words. Jobs’s first four slides have a grand totalof seven words, three numbers, one date, and no bullet points.Let’s RockOn September 9, 2008, Jobs revealed new features for the iTunesmusic store and released new iPod models for the holiday season.Prior to the event—dubbed “Let’s Rock”—observers speculatedTABLE 8.1 EXCERPTS FROM JOBS’S MACWORLD 2008 KEYNOTESTEVE’S WORDS”I just want to take a moment and look back to2007. Two thousand seven was an extraordinaryyear for Apple. Some incredible new products: theamazing new iMac, the awesome new iPods, andof course the revolutionary iPhone. On top of that,Leopard and all of the other great software weshipped in 2007.”“It was an extraordinary year for Apple, and I wantto just take a moment to say thank you. We havehad tremendous support by all of our customers,and we really, really appreciate it. So, thank youfor an extraordinary 2007.”“I’ve got four things I’d like to talk to you abouttoday, so let’s get started. The first one isLeopard.”“I’m thrilled to report that we have delivered overfive million copies of Leopard in the first ninetydays. Unbelievable. It’s the most successful releaseof Mac OS X ever.”STEVE’S SLIDES2007Thank you.15,000,000 copiesdelivered in first 3months

92 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEthat Jobs might be in ill health, given his gaunt appearance.(In January 2009, Apple revealed that Jobs was losing weightdue to a hormone imbalance and would take a leave of absencefor treatment.) Jobs addressed the rumor as soon as he steppedonstage. He did so without saying a word about it. He let a slidedo the talking (see Table 8.2). 14 It was simple and unexpected.It generated cheers and deflected the tension. The rest of theintroduction was equally as compelling for its simplicity.Make note of the words and figures on the slides in the table.The words on the slide match the exact words that Jobs uses todeliver his message. When Jobs says, “We’re going to talk aboutmusic,” the only word the audience sees is “Music.” The wordsact as a complement.If you deliver a point and your slide has too many words—and words that do not match what you say—your audience willhave a hard time focusing on both you and the slide. In short,wordy slides detract from the experience. Simple slides keep thefocus where it belongs—on you, the speaker.Empirical EvidenceEmpirical studies based on hard data, not opinions, prove thatkeeping your slides simple and free of extraneous information isthe best way to engage your audience. Dr. Richard Mayer teacheseducational psychology at the University of California, SantaBarbara, and has been studying multimedia learning since 1991.His theories are based on solid, empirical studies published inpeer-reviewed journals. In a study titled “A Cognitive Theory ofMultimedia Learning,” Mayer outlined fundamental principlesof multimedia design based on what scientists know about cognitivefunctioning. Steve Jobs’s slides adhere to each of Mayer’sprinciples:MULTIMEDIA REPRESENTATION PRINCIPLE“It is better to present an explanation in words and pictures thansolely in words,” writes Mayer. 15 According to Mayer, learners can

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 93TABLE 8.2 EXCERPTS FROM JOBS’S 2008“LET’S ROCK” PRESENTATIONSTEVE’S WORDS”Good morning. Thank you for coming thismorning. We have some really exciting stuffto share with you. Before we do, I just wantedto mention this [gestures toward screen].”“Enough said. So, let’s get on with the realtopic of this morning, which is music. We’regoing to talk about music today, and we’vegot a lot of fun, new offerings.”“So, let’s start with iTunes.”“iTunes, of course, is the ubiquitous music andvideo player married with the largest onlinecontent store in the world.”“iTunes now offers over eight and a halfmillion songs. It’s amazing. We started withtwo hundred thousand. We now have overeight and a half million songs.”“Over one hundred and twenty-five thousandpodcasts.”STEVE’S SLIDESThe reports of my deathare greatly exaggerated.MusiciTunesImage of iTuneshome page8,500,000 songs125,000 podcasts“Over thirty thousand episodes of TV shows.” 30,000 episodes of 1,000TV shows“Twenty-six hundred Hollywood movies.”“And, as of very recently, we now offer overthree thousand applications for iPhone andiPod Touch.”“And over the years, we’ve built up a greatcustomer base. We’re very pleased toannounce that we’ve got over sixty-fivemillion accounts in iTunes now. It’s fantastic:sixty-five million customers.”2,600 Hollywood movies3,000 applications foriPhone & iPod Touch65,000,000 accountswith credit cards

94 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCETwo-Minute WarningThe task of leaders is to simplify. You should be able to explainwhere you have to go in two minutes. 16—JEROEN VAN DER VEER, CEO, ROYAL DUTCH SHELLmore easily understand material when it is presented in bothwords and pictures. In Mayer’s experiments, groups that wereexposed to multisensory environments—texts and pictures, animation,and video—always had much more accurate recall of theinformation, in some cases up to twenty years later!CONTIGUITY PRINCIPLE“When giving a multimedia explanation, present correspondingwords and pictures contiguously rather than separately,”Mayer advises. 17 In Mayer’s experiments, he exposed students tocertain types of information and then tested them on what theyhad learned. Those students who had read a text containingcaptioned illustrations near the corresponding words performed65 percent better than those students who had read only plaintext. Mayer says this principle is not surprising if you know howthe brain works. When the brain is allowed to build two mentalrepresentations of an explanation—a verbal model and a visualmodel—the mental connections are that much stronger.SPLIT-ATTENTION PRINCIPLEMayer also advises, “When giving a multimedia explanation,present words as auditory narration rather than visual on-screentext.” 18 When presenting information, words delivered orallyhave greater impact than words read by your audience on a slide.Having too many words to process overloads the brain.COHERENCE PRINCIPLE“When giving a multimedia explanation,” writes Mayer, “use fewrather than many extraneous words and pictures.” 19 Shorter presentationswith more relevant information are more consistent

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 95with cognitive-learning theories. In sum, adding redundant orirrelevant information will impede, rather than aid, learning.Mayer says an ideal slide would contain an image along witha simple line drawing directing the eye to the area that youwant the viewer to see. This is called “signaling,” and it is basedon the scientific premise that your audience should not haveto waste cognitive resources trying to find their place on thescreen. Now, keep this in mind as we return to the “Let’s Rock”event. About six minutes into the presentation, Jobs described anew feature available on iTunes—Genius (see Table 8.3). 20What could be easier to follow than simple line arrows pointingto the relevant area of a slide? Line drawings, few words,and a rich library of colorful images and photographs make upthe majority of Jobs’s slides. Simplicity—the elimination of clutter—isthe theme that ties them all together.The “McPresentation”Critics once derided USA Today as “McPaper” for its short,easy-to-read stories. They’re not laughing now. USA Todayboasts the largest circulation of any newspaper in the UnitedStates. Readers love the colorful and bold graphics, charts, andphotographs. After USA Today launched in 1982, many dailynewspapers had no choice but to follow with shorter stories,splashes of color, and more photographs.USA Today became famous for its “snapshots,” stand-alonecharts carried on the lower left of the main sections (i.e., News,Sports, Money, Life). They are easy-to-read statistical graphicsthat present information on various issues and trends ina visually appealing way. These graphics are among the bestlearning tools to create more visual slides. Study them. You’llsee Richard Mayer’s theory in action. Statistics share the slidewith images, making the information more memorable. For anindex of USA Today “snapshots,” visit usatoday.com/snapshot/news/snapndex.htm.

96 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCETABLE 8.3 MORE EXCERPTS FROM JOBS’S 2008“LET’S ROCK” PRESENTATIONSTEVE’S WORDS”We’re introducing a new feature called Genius.Genius is pretty cool.”“What Genius does is automatically allow you tomake playlists from songs in your music librarythat go great together, with just one click. Ithelps you rediscover music from your ownmusic library and make great playlists that youprobably wouldn’t think of making any otherway, and it really works well with just one click.”“So, that’s what Genius is. Here’s what it lookslike. Let’s say you’re listening to a song—in mycase, a Bob Dylan song.”“There’s a Genius button down here in thecorner. You push that, and voilà—you’vemade a Genius playlist. In addition, you canbring up the Genius sidebar that makesrecommendations from the iTunes store ofmusic you might want to buy.”“So, how does all this work? Well, we’ve gotthe iTunes store in the cloud, and we’ve addedGenius algorithms to it.”“So, you’ve got your music library. If you turn onGenius, it’s going to send up information aboutyour music library to iTunes so we can learnabout your musical tastes. This information issent completely anonymously.”“But it’s not just information from you, becausewe are going to combine your information withthe knowledge of millions of iTunes users as well.”“And so, you’re going to send your informationup, and so are they.”STEVE’S SLIDESGeniusAutomatically makeplaylists from songsin your library that gogreat together—withjust one clickImage of an iTuneslibrary screen shot witha song highlightedAnimated circleappears and surroundssmall Genius logo atbottom right of screenSimple cloud linedrawing with Geniuslogo insideImage of iTunes musiclibrary; arrow appearsmoving up from iTunesto cloudMany images of iTunesmusic libraries appearalongside originalArrow up from originalimage to cloud,followed by more thana dozen arrows fromother images

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 97STEVE’S WORDS“And as that happens, Genius just getssmarter, and smarter, and smarter.”“Everybody benefits. When we send backdown Genius results to you, they are tailoredto your music library.”STEVE’S SLIDESGenius logo in cloudreplaced with word“Smarter”Arrow appears movingdownward from cloud toiTunes library image“So, automatically make playlists from songsin your library that go great together, withjust one click. That’s what Genius is about.”[moves to demo]White SpaceAccording to Garr Reynolds, there is a clear Zen aesthetic toJobs’s slides. “In Jobs’s slides, you can see evidence of restraint,simplicity, and powerful yet subtle use of empty space.” 21 Topdesigners such as Reynolds say the biggest mistake businessprofessionals make is filling up every centimeter of the slide.Nancy Duarte describes white space as giving your slidesvisual breathing room. “Visible elements of a slide often receivethe most focus. But you need to pay equal attention to howmuch space you leave open . . . It’s OK to have clear space—clutter is a failure of design.” 22 Duarte says it’s “laziness” on thepart of the presenter to put everything on one slide.Dense information and clutter requires too much effortfor your audience. Simplicity is powerful. Empty space implieselegance, quality, and clarity. To see examples of how designersuse space, visit some slide design contest winners atSlideshare.net (slideshare.net/contest/results-2008).Picture Superiority EffectBy now I hope you have decided to gather up your current slides,especially those with bullet points, and burn them. At least burnthem digitally by deleting them and emptying your recycle bin

98 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEso you can never retrieve those slides again. The argument forthe visual representation of ideas is such a powerful concept thatpsychologists have a term for it: the picture superiority effect(PSE). 23 Researchers have discovered that visual and verbal informationare processed differently along multiple “channels” inyour brain. What this means for you and your next presentationis simple: your ideas are much more likely to be remembered ifthey are presented as pictures instead of words.Scientists who have advanced the PSE theory believe it representsa powerful way of learning information. According to JohnMedina, a molecular biologist at the University of WashingtonSchool of Medicine, “Text and oral presentations are not justless efficient than pictures for retaining certain types of information;they are way less efficient. If information is presentedorally, people remember about 10 percent, tested seventy-twohours after exposure. That figure goes up to 65 percent if youadd a picture.” 24Pictures work better than text because the brain sees wordsas several tiny pictures. According to Medina, “My text chokesyou, not because my text is not enough like pictures but becausemy text is too much like pictures. To our cortex, unnervingly,there is no such thing as words.” 25Steve’s Love of PhotosOn June 9, 2008, Steve Jobs announced the introduction ofthe iPhone 3G at the WWDC. He used eleven slides to do so,employing the concept of PSE to its fullest. Only one slide containedwords (“iPhone 3G”). The others were all photographs.Take a look at Table 8.4. 26Given the same information, a mediocre presenter wouldhave crammed all of it onto one slide. It would have lookedsomething like the slide in Figure 8.2. Which do you find morememorable: Jobs’s eleven slides or the one slide with a bulletedlist of features?When Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air as “the world’sthinnest notebook,” one slide showed a photograph of the new

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 99TABLE 8.4 JOBS’S WWDC 2008 KEYNOTESTEVE’S WORDS”As we arrive at iPhone’s first birthday,we’re going to take it to the next level.”“Today we’re introducing the iPhone3G. We’ve learned so much with thefirst iPhone. We’ve taken everythingwe’ve learned and more, and we’vecreated the iPhone 3G. And it’sbeautiful.”“This is what it looks like [turns andgestures toward screen; audiencelaughs]. It’s even thinner at the edges.It’s really beautiful.”“It’s got a full plastic back. It’s reallynice.”“Solid metal buttons.”“The same gorgeous 3.5-inch display.”“Camera.”“Flush headphone jack so you can useany headphones you like.”“Improved audio. Dramaticallyimproved audio.”“It’s really, really great. And it feelseven better in your hand, if you canbelieve it.”“It’s really quite wonderful. TheiPhone 3G.”STEVE’S SLIDESPhoto of birthday cake, withwhite frosting, strawberries,and one candle in the middleiPhone 3GSide view of iPhone, so slimthat it’s hard to see on theslide and takes up very littlespace—an example of usingempty space to communicatean ideaFull-screen view of the backAnother side view of thedevice, where buttons arevisiblePhoto of front, showing displayClose-up photo of cameraClose-up of headphone jackAnother photo from top of thedeviceReturns to first side-viewphotoiPhone 3G

100 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEiPhone 3G● Thinner at the edges● Full plastic back● Solid metal buttons● 3.5-inch display● Built-in camera● Flush headphone jack● Improved audioFigure 8.2 Dull slides have no images and too many words.computer on top of an envelope, which was even larger than thecomputer itself. That’s it. No words, no text boxes, no graphs, justthe photo. How much more powerful can you get? The picturesays it all. For illustrative purposes, I created the slide in Figure8.3 as an example of a typical slide that a mediocre presenterwould have created to describe a technical product. (Believe itor not, this mock slide is gorgeous compared with many slides Ihave actually seen in technical presentations delivered by subparpresenters.) It’s a mishmash of fonts, styling, and text. Notmemorable and truly awful.In contrast, Figure 8.4 shows one of Jobs’s slides from theMacbook Air presentation. The majority of his slides for thispresentation looked very similar, featuring mostly photographs.He referred customers to the Apple website for more technicalinformation; visuals dominated the keynote. Clearly, presentinga technical product in such a way as Jobs did for the MacbookAir is far more effective.It takes confidence to deliver your ideas with photographsinstead of words. Since you can’t rely on the slides’ text as a crutch,you must have your message down cold. But that’s the differencebetween Jobs and millions of average communicators in businesstoday. Jobs delivers his ideas simply, clearly, and confidently.Simplify EverythingSimplicity applies to Jobs’s slides as well as the words he carefullychooses to describe products. Just as Jobs’s slides are free

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 101MACBOOK AIRDisplay13.3 inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display• Support for millions of colors• Supported resolutions:-1280 by 800 (native)-1024 by 768 (pixels)-4:3 (aspect ratio)Size & Weight✓ Height: 0.16–0.76 inch(0.4–1.94 cm)✓ Width: 12.8 inches (32.5 cm)✓ Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)✓ Weight: 3.0 pounds (1.36 kg)Storage120 GB hard disk driveor128GB solid-state driveProcessor & Memory● 1.6ghz processor- 6MB shared L2 cashe● 1066 MHz frontside bus● 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR 3 SDRAMBattery Power■ Integrated 37-watt hour lithiumpolymer■ 45W MagSafe power adapter■ MagSafe power port■ 4.5 hours of wireless productivityFigure 8.3 An ugly slide with too much information, too many differentfonts, and inconsistent styling.Figure 8.4 Jobs’s slides are strikingly simple and visually engaging.TONY AVELAR/AFP/Getty Images

102 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEEinstein’s Theory of SimplicityIf you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.—ALBERT EINSTEINfrom extraneous text, so are his words. For example, in October2008, Apple unveiled a new line of environmentally friendlyMacBook computers. There are two principal ways Jobs couldhave described the computers. The column on the left in Table8.5 is technically accurate but wordy; the text in the column onthe right is what Jobs actually said. 27Jobs replaces lengthy sentences with descriptions that could fitin a Twitter post (see Scene 4). Simple sentences are simply easierto recall. Table 8.6 shows other examples of how Jobs could havedescribed a new product, compared with what he actually said.Plain English CampaignIf you need help writing crisp, clear sentences, the Plain EnglishCampaign can help. Since 1979, this UK-based organization hasbeen leading the fight to get governments and corporations tosimplify their communications. The site is updated weekly withexamples of the most complex, unintelligible business languagesubmitted by readers around the world. The organizers defineplain English as writing that the intended audience can read,TABLE 8.5 DESCRIBING THE ENVIRONMENTALLYFRIENDLY MACBOOKWHAT STEVE COULD HAVE SAIDThe new MacBook family meets the moststringent Energy Star standards andcontains no brominated flame retardants.It uses only PVC-free internal cables andcomponents and features energy-efficientLED-backlit displays that are mercury free.WHAT STEVE ACTUALLY SAID“They are the industry’sgreenest notebooks.”

CHANNEL THEIR INNER ZEN 103TABLE 8.6 POSSIBLE VERSUS ACTUAL DESCRIPTIONS INJOBS’S PRESENTATIONSWHAT STEVE COULD HAVE SAIDMacBook Air measures 0.16 inch at itsthinnest point, with a maximum height of0.76 inch.Time Capsule is an appliance combiningan 802.11n base station with a server-gradehard disk that automatically backs upeverything on one or more Macs runningLeopard, the latest release of the Mac OS Xoperating system.Mac OS X features memory protection, preemptivemultitasking, and symmetric multiprocessing.It includes Apple’s new Quartz2D graphics engine based on the Internetstandardportable document format.WHAT STEVE ACTUALLY SAID“It’s the world’s thinnestnotebook.”“With Time Capsule, plugit in, click a few buttons,and voilà—all the Macs inyour house are backed upautomatically.”“Mac OS X is the mosttechnically advancedpersonal computeroperating system ever.”understand, and act upon the first time they read (or hear) it.The website has free guides on how to write in plain English aswell as marvelous before-and-after examples, such as the ones inTable 8.7. 28Nearly everything you say in any memo, e-mail, or presentationcan be edited for conciseness and simplicity. Rememberthat simplicity applies not just to the words on the slides butalso to the words that come out of your mouth.Author and advertising expert Paul Arden says that people goto a presentation to see you, not to read your words. He offers thistip: “Instead of giving people the benefit of your wit and wisdom(words), try painting them a picture. The more strikingly visualyour presentation is, the more people will remember it.” 29Leonardo da Vinci stated, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”One of the most celebrated painters in history, heunderstood the real power of simplicity, as does Steve Jobs.When you discover this concept for yourself, your ideas willbecome far more persuasive than you could ever imagine.

104 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCETABLE 8.7 BEFORE-AND-AFTER EXAMPLES FROM THE PLAINENGLISH CAMPAIGNBEFOREIf there are any points on which you requireexplanation or further particulars we shall beglad to furnish such additional details as maybe required by telephone.High-quality learning environments are anecessary precondition for facilitation andenhancement of the ongoing learning process.It is important that you shall read the notes,advice and information detailed opposite thencomplete the form overleaf (all sections) priorto its immediate return to the Council by wayof the envelope provided.AFTERIf you have anyquestions, please call.Children need goodschools to learnproperly.Please read the notesbefore you fill in theform. Then send itback to us as soon aspossible in the envelopeprovided.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Avoid bullet points. Always. Well, almost always. Bulletpoints are perfectly acceptable on pages intended tobe read by your audience, like books, documents, ande-mails. In fact, they break up the text quite nicely.Bullet points on presentation slides should be avoided.Pictures are superior.» Focus on one theme per slide, and complement thattheme with a photograph or image.» Learn to create visually aesthetic slides. Above all, keepin mind that you do not have to be an artist to buildslides rich in imagery. Visit carminegallo.com for a list ofresources.

N E 9SCENE 9SCEDress UpYour NumbersWe have sold four million iPhones to date. If youdivide four million by two hundred days, that’stwenty thousand iPhones every day on average.—STEVE JOBSOn October 23, 2001, Apple launched a digital musicplayer that would revolutionize the entire musicindustry—the iPod. At $399, however, it was anexpensive gadget. The iPod stored songs on a fivegigabytedrive, but the number itself—5 GB—meant very little tothe average music lover. In his keynote presentation, Jobs madethat number more meaningful by saying that 5 GB providedenough storage for one thousand songs. While that sounds moreimpressive, it still did not provide a compelling value, since competitorswere offering devices containing more storage at a lowerprice. But wait, Jobs assured his audience, there’s more. Jobs saidthe new iPod weighed 6.5 ounces and was so small that it could“fit in your pocket.” When Jobs pulled one out of his own pocket,it immediately clicked with the audience. The iPod’s slogan saidit all: “1,000 songs in your pocket.” 1Rarely do numbers resonate with people until those numbersare placed in a context that people can understand, andthe best way to help them understand is to make those numbersrelevant to something with which they are already familiar. Fivegigabytes may mean nothing to you, but one thousand songs105

106 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEin your pocket opens up an entirely new way for you to enjoymusic.Jobs dresses up numbers to make them more interesting.Rolling Stone reporter Jeff Goodell once asked Jobs what hethought about Apple’s market share’s being “stuck” at 5 percentin the United States. (The interview took place in 2003. As ofthis writing, Apple’s market share of the computer industry is 10percent.) The average reader might consider a 5 percent marketshare to be tiny. Jobs put the number in perspective when hedescribed it this way: “Our market share is greater than BMW orMercedes in the car industry. And yet, no one thinks BMW orMercedes are going away and no one thinks they’re at a tremendousdisadvantage because of their market share. As a matterof fact, they’re both highly desirable products and brands.” 2 A5 percent market share sounded low but became much moreinteresting when Jobs put it into context using the automobileanalogy. Comparing Apple’s market share to that of two admiredbrands told the story behind the numbers.Twice as Fast at Half the PriceData transfers on the original iPhone were often painfully slowon AT&T’s standard cellular network (EDGE). Apple solved theproblem with the launch of iPhone 3G on June 9, 2008. In thepresentation, Jobs said the new iPhone was 2.8 times faster thanEDGE, but he didn’t stop there. Jobs put the figure into a contextthat normal Web surfers would understand and appreciate.He showed two images back to back—a National Geographicwebsite loading on the EDGE network and also on the new 3Ghigh-speed network. The EDGE site took fifty-nine seconds tofully load. The 3G site took only twenty-one seconds. 3 Further,Apple offered customers a bonus by lowering the price.According to Jobs, consumers would be getting a phone thatwas twice as fast at half the price. Average presenters spew numberswith no context, assuming their audience will share theirexcitement. Jobs knows that numbers might have meaning tothe most ardent fans but are largely meaningless to the majority

DRESS UP YOUR NUMBERS 107of potential customers. Jobs makes his numbers specific, relevant,and contextual.Specific. Relevant. Contextual.Let’s take a look at two other examples in which Jobs madenumbers specific, relevant, and contextual. On February 23,2005, Apple added a new iPod to its lineup. The iPod featured30 GB of storage. Now, most consumers could not tell you what30 GB means to them. They know it’s “better” than 8 GB, butthat’s about it. Jobs would never announce a number that bigwithout context, so he broke it down in language his audiencecould understand. He said 30 GB of storage is enough memoryfor 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos, or up to 75 hours of video. Thedescription was specific (7,500 songs, versus “thousands” ofsongs), relevant to the lives of his audience (people who wantmobile access to songs, photos, and video), and contextualbecause he chose to highlight numbers that his core audience ofconsumers would care about most.In a second example, Jobs chose Macworld 2008 to hold atwo-hundreth-day birthday celebration for the iPhone. Jobssaid, “I’m extraordinarily pleased that we have sold four millioniPhones to date.” He could have stopped there (and mostpresenters would have done just that), but Jobs being Jobs, hecontinued: “If you divide four million by two hundred days,that’s twenty thousand iPhones every day on average.” Jobscould have stopped there as well, but he kept going, adding thatthe iPhone had captured nearly 20 percent of the market in thatshort period. OK, you might be saying, surely Jobs would havestopped there. He didn’t.“What does this mean in terms of the overall market?” heasked. 4 He then showed a slide of the U.S. smartphone marketshare with competitors RIM, Palm, Nokia, and Motorola.RIM’s BlackBerry had the highest market share at 39 percent.The iPhone came in second at 19.5 percent. Jobs then comparediPhone’s market share to that of all of the other remaining competitors.Jobs concluded that the iPhone matched the combined

108 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEmarket share of the remaining three competitors—in the firstninety days of shipments. The numbers, of course, were veryspecific, relevant to the category, and, above all, contextual (Jobswas addressing investors). By comparing the iPhone against wellestablishedcompetitors, Jobs made this achievement—sellingfour million units in the first quarter—far more remarkable.Dress Up Numbers with AnalogiesWhen I worked with SanDisk executives to prepare them for amajor announcement at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Showin Las Vegas, we took a page from the Steve Jobs playbook. Themaker of flash memory cards was introducing a card smallenough to fit into a cell phone’s micro SD slot. That’s very tiny.Even bigger news was that it held 12 GB of storage in that smallform factor. Now, only gadget geeks would find 12 GB exciting.So, we had to dress up the numbers à la Steve Jobs. Our finalannouncement went something like this:“Today we’re announcing the first 12 GB memory card forcell phones. It has fifty billion transistors. Think of each transistoras an ant: if you were to put fifty billion end to end, theywould circle the globe twice. What does this mean to you?Enough memory to store six hours of movies. Enough memoryto listen to music while traveling to the moon . . . and back!”The number 12 GB is largely uninteresting unless you trulyunderstand the implications of the achievement and what itmeans to you. When SanDisk compared fifty billion transistorsto the number of ants that could circle the globe, the companywas using an analogy to jazz up the numbers. Analogies pointout similar features between two separate things. Sometimes,analogies are the best way to put numbers into a context thatpeople can understand.The more complex the idea, the more important it is to userhetorical devices such as analogies to facilitate understanding.For example, on November 17, 2008, Intel released a powerfulnew microprocessor named the Core i7. The new chiprepresented a significant leap in technology, packing 730 million

DRESS UP YOUR NUMBERS 109transistors on a single piece of silicon. Engineers described thetechnology as “breathtaking.” But that’s because they’re engineers.How could the average consumer and investors appreciatethe profound achievement? Intel’s testing chief, John Barton,found the answer.In an interview with the New York Times, Barton said an Intelprocessor created twenty-seven years ago had 29,000 transistors;the i7 boasted 730 million transistors on a chip the same size.He equated the two by comparing the city of Ithaca, New York(population 29,000), with the continent of Europe (population730 million). “Ithaca is quite complex in its own right, if youthink about all that goes on. If we scale up the population to730 million, we come to Europe at about the right size. Nowtake Europe and shrink it until it all fits in the same land massas Ithaca.” 5Number SmithsEvery industry has numbers, and nearly every presenter in everyindustry fails to make numbers interesting and meaningful. Forthe rest of this scene, let’s examine several examples of individualsand companies who have accomplished what Jobs does inevery presentation—make numbers meaningful.DEFINING ONE THOUSAND TRILLIONOn June 9, 2008, IBM issued a press release touting a superfastsupercomputer. As its name suggests, Roadrunner is one reallyquick system. It operates at one petaflop per second. What’s apetaflop? Glad you asked. It’s one thousand trillion calculationsper second. IBM realized that the number would be meaninglessto the vast majority of readers, so it added the followingdescription:How fast is a petaflop? Lots of laptops. That’s roughly equivalentto the combined computing power of 100,000 of today’sfastest laptop computers. You would need a stack of laptops1.5 miles high to equal Roadrunner’s performance.

110 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEIt would take the entire population of the earth—aboutsix billion—each of us working a handheld calculator at therate of one second per calculation, more than 46 years to dowhat Roadrunner can do in one day.If it were possible for cars to improve their gas mileageover the past decade at the same rate that supercomputershave improved their cost and efficiency, we’d be getting200,000 miles to the gallon today. 6The comparisons were compelling and caught the attention ofthe media. Conduct a Google search for “IBM + Roadrunner +1.5 miles” and the search returns nearly twenty thousand linksto articles that use IBM’s comparison word for word from thepress release. The analogy works.$700 BILLION BAILOUTThe bigger the number, the more important it is to place thenumber into a context that makes sense to your audience. Forexample, in October 2008, the U.S. government bailed out banksand financial institutions to the tune of $700 billion. That’s thenumeral 7 followed by eleven zeros, a number so large that fewof us can get our minds around it. San Jose Mercury News reporterScott Harris put the number into a context his Silicon Valleyreaders could understand: $700 billion is twenty-five times thecombined wealth of the Google guys. It is the equivalent of 350billion venti lattes at Starbucks or 3.5 billion iPhones. The governmentcould write checks for $2,300 to every man, woman,and child in America or provide free education for twenty-threemillion college students. Few people can grasp the concept of700 billion, but they know lattes and college tuitions. Thosenumbers are specific and relevant. 7CHIPPING DOWN $13 TRILLIONEnvironmental groups go to great lengths to make numbersmore meaningful. They must if they hope to persuade individualsto break deeply ingrained habits and routines that mightcontribute to damaging climate change. The numbers are simplytoo big (and seemingly irrelevant) without connecting the

DRESS UP YOUR NUMBERS 111dots. For example, try telling someone that in 2006 alone, theUnited States produced thirteen trillion pounds of carbon dioxide(CO 2). It sounds like a humongous number, but what doesit mean? There is no context. Thirteen trillion could be smallor large in comparison with other countries. And frankly, whatwould it mean to the average person? The number itself won’tpersuade people to change their habits.Al Gore’s website, ClimateCrisis.org, breaks the number downfurther, claiming the average American is responsible for 44,000pounds of CO 2emissions per year, while the world average is9,600 pounds per individual. 8 That’s specific and contextual.The site then makes the number even more relevant by tellingits readers what might happen if that number doesn’t comedown: heat waves will be more frequent and intense, droughtsand wildfires will occur more often, and more than a millionspecies could be driven to extinction in the next fifty years.Scientists at NOAA (National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration) are also catching on. Senior scientist SusanSolomon once told the New York Times that if the burning of fossilfuels continues at its present rate, carbon dioxide emissionscould reach 450 parts per million. What does that figure mean?According to Solomon, at 450 parts per million, rising seas willthreaten coastal areas around the world, and western Australiacould expect 10 percent less rainfall. “Ten percent may not seemlike a high number,” said Solomon, “but it is the kind of numberthat has been seen in major droughts in the past, like the DustBowl.” 9Whether or not you believe in global warming, climatechange experts such as Al Gore and Susan Solomon are mastersat making large numbers meaningful, and by doing so,they hope to persuade governments and individuals to take theaction they deem necessary to solve the problem.CHANGE YOUR DIET OR PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICEWhat if you knew nothing about blood pressure and a doctortold you your blood pressure was 220 over 140? Would you bemotivated to change your diet and exercise habits? Perhaps notuntil those numbers are put into context that makes sense to

112 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEyou. One doctor I know once told a patient, “Your blood pressureis 220 over 140. We consider 120 over 80 to be normal.Your blood pressure is severely high. That means you have amuch higher risk of having a heart attack, kidney disease, andstroke. In fact, with numbers this high, you could drop dead atany minute by blowing your gourd. The arteries in your brainwill literally burst.” By being specific, relevant, and contextual,the doctor made his point and motivated his patient to makechanges right away!Regardless of what industry you’re in, the numbers you throwaround will have little impact on your audience unless and untilyou make them meaningful. Numbers out of context are simplyunimpressive. Whether you’re presenting the data behind anew technology or a particular medical condition, comparingthe number to something your listeners can relate to will makeyour message far more interesting, impactful, and ultimatelypersuasive.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Use data to support the key theme of your presentation.As you do, consider carefully the figures you want topresent. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too manynumbers.» Make your data specific, relevant, and contextual. Inother words, put the numbers into a context that isrelevant to the lives of your listeners.» Use rhetorical devices such as analogies to dress up yournumbers.

N E 10SCENE 10SCEUse “AmazinglyZippy” WordsPlug it in. Wirrrrrr. Done.—STEVE JOBS, DESCRIBING THE SONG TRANSFER FEATUREOF THE FIRST IPOD, FORTUNE, NOVEMBER 2001Steve Jobs introduced an upgrade to the iPhone at Apple’sWorldwide Developers Conference on June 9, 2008.The iPhone 3G was twice as fast as the original model,supporting the speedier third-generation AT&T datanetwork. A 3G network has a potential transfer speed of 3 Mbps,versus 144 Kbps on a slower, 2G (second-generation) network.Simply put, 3G is better for accessing the Internet and downloadinglarge multimedia files on a mobile phone. Jobs made iteven simpler. “It’s amazingly zippy,” he said. 1Jobs speaks in simple, clear, and direct language, free of thejargon and complexity so common in business communications.Jobs is one of the few business leaders who could confidently calla product “amazingly zippy.” In an interview for Fortune magazine,he was asked to describe the interface of Apple’s new OS Xoperating system. “We made the buttons on the screen look sogood, you’ll want to lick them,” he said. 2 Even if you think Jobsis grandstanding from time to time, his choice of words puts asmile on your face. He chooses words that are fun, tangible, anduncommon in most professional business presentations.113

114 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEJobs, Gates, and the Plain English TestSeattle Post Intelligencer tech reporter Todd Bishop wrote a cleverpiece at the urging of his readers. He ran the transcripts fromfour presentations in 2007 and 2008 (Steve Jobs’s Macworld keynotesand Bill Gates’s Consumer Electronics Show presentations)through a software tool that analyzes language. In general,the lower the numerical score, the more understandable thelanguage.Bishop used an online software tool provided by UsingEnglish.com. 3 The tool analyzes language based on four criteria:1. Average number of words per sentence.2. Lexical density—how easy or difficult a text is to read. Textwith “lower density” is more easily understood. In this case,a lower percentage is better.3. Hard words—average number of words in a sentence thatcontain more than three syllables. In this case, a higherpercentage is worse because it implies that are more “hardwords” in the text that are generally less understood by theaverage reader.4. Fog index—the number of years of education a readertheoretically would require to understand the text. Forexample, the New York Times has a fog rating of 11 or 12,while some academic documents have a fog rating of 18.The fog index simply means that short sentences written inplain English receive a better score than sentences writtenin complicated language.It should be no surprise that Jobs did noticeably better thanGates when their language was put to the test. Table 10.1 comparesthe results for both 2007 and 2008. 4In each case, Jobs performs significantly better than Gateswhen it comes to using terms and language people can easilyunderstand. Jobs’s words are simpler, his phrases are lessabstract, and he uses fewer words per sentence.

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS 115TABLE 10.1 LANGUAGE COMPLEXITY: STEVE JOBS VERSUSBILL GATESPRESENTER/EVENTSTEVE JOBS,MACWORLDJobs’s 2007 Macworld Keynote and Gates’s 2007 CES KeynoteBILL GATES,INTERNATIONALCONSUMERELECTRONICS SHOWAverage words/sentence10.5 21.6Lexical density 16.5% 21.0%Hard words 2.9% 5.11%Fog index 5.5 10.7Jobs’s 2008 Macworld Keynote and Gates’s 2008 CES KeynoteAverage words/sentence13.79 18.23Lexical density 15.76% 24.52%Hard words 3.18% 5.2%Fog index 6.79 9.37Table 10.2 compares some exact phrases from the 2007presentations. Excerpts from Bill Gates’s remarks are in theright column. 5 The left column contains excerpts from SteveJobs. 6Where Gates is obtuse, Jobs is clear. Where Gates is abstract,Jobs is tangible. Where Gates is complex, Jobs is simple.Now, I can hear you saying, “Bill Gates might not speakas simply as Jobs, but he’s the richest guy in the world, so hemust have done something right.” You’re correct. He did. Gatesinvented Windows, the operating system installed in 90 percentof the world’s computers. You, however, did not. Youraudience will not let you get away with language they’ll accept

116 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCETABLE 10.2 VERBIAGE IN GATES’S 2007 CES KEYNOTE VERSUSJOBS’S 2007 MACWORLD KEYNOTESTEVE JOBS, 2007 MACWORLD”You know, it was just a yearago that I was up here andannounced that we were goingto switch to Intel processors.It was a huge heart transplantto Intel microprocessors. AndI said that we would do it overthe coming twelve months. Wedid it in seven months, and it’sbeen the smoothest and mostsuccessful transition that we’veever seen in the history of ourindustry.”“Now I’d like to tell you a fewthings about iTunes thatare pretty exciting . . . Weare selling over five millionsongs a day now. Isn’t thatunbelievable? That’s fifty-eightsongs every second of everyminute of every hour of everyday.”“We’ve got awesome TV showson iTunes. As a matter of fact,we have over 350 TV showsthat you can buy episodes fromon iTunes. And I’m very pleasedto report that we have nowsold fifty million TV shows oniTunes. Isn’t that incredible?”BILL GATES, 2007 INTERNATIONALCONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW“The processors are now opening thememory capability up to 64-bit, andthat’s a transition we’re making withouta lot of incompatibility, without payinga lot of extra money. Software, theold 32-bit software, can run, but if youneed to get more space, it’s just there.”“The process we’ve been through overthis year—there was a beta 2—gotout to over two million people. Therelease candidate, which was our lastchance for feedback, got out to overfive million. We had a lot of in-depththings where we went in and sat andinterviewed people using WindowsVista in family situations. We did thatin seven different countries. We didincredible performance simulation,getting over sixty years equivalentof performance testing with all thecommon mix of applications that wereout there.”“Microsoft Office has got a newuser interface; it’s got new ways ofconnecting up to Office Live servicesand SharePoint, but the discoverabilityof the richness is advanced dramaticallyby that user interface.”

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS 117from Gates. If your presentations are confusing, convoluted,and full of jargon, you will miss an opportunity to engage andexcite your listeners. Strive for understanding. Avoid lexicaldensity.You might have noticed that many of Jobs’s favorite wordsare the type of words most people use in everyday watercoolerconversation: “amazing, incredible, gorgeous.” Most presenterschange their language for a pitch or presentation. Jobs speaksthe same way onstage as he does offstage. He has confidence inhis brand and has fun with the words he chooses. Some criticsmight say his language borders on hyperbole, but Jobs echoesthe sentiments shared by millions of his customers.Of course, you should use words that authentically representyour service, brand, or product. A financial adviser recommendinga mutual fund to a client would appear insincere (andprobably dishonest) if he or she said, “This new mutual fund willrevolutionize the financial industry as we know it. It’s amazing,and you need to invest your money in it right now.” Instead,the financial adviser could say, “Mutual funds are amazingproducts that will help your money grow while lowering yourrisk. There are thousands of funds available, but I’m especiallyexcited about a new one. Let me tell you more about it . . .” Inthe latter statement, our financial adviser has chosen words thatare simple and emotional while still maintaining his or her professionalismand integrity.Don’t be afraid of using simple words and descriptive adjectives.If you genuinely find a product “amazing,” go ahead andsay so. After all, if you’re not excited about it, how do you expectthe rest of us to be?Avoid Jargon CreepJargon rarely creeps into Jobs’s language. His words are conversationaland simple. Jargon—language that is specific to aparticular industry—creates a roadblock to the free and easyexchange of ideas. I have attended countless meetings in whichtwo people who work for different divisions of the same companycannot understand the jargon used by the other. Jargon and

118 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEbuzzwords are meaningless and empty and will most certainlymake you less understandable and therefore less persuasive.Mission statements are the worst culprits of jargon creep.Mission statements typically are long, convoluted, jargon-ladenparagraphs created in multiple committee meetings and destinedto be forgotten. They are replete with jargon and murky wordsyou will rarely hear from Jobs, such as “synergy,” “principlecentered,”and “best of breed.” These expressions are nonsense,yet on any given day, employees in companies around the worldare sitting in committee meetings to see just how many suchwords can be crammed into a single sentence.Apple’s mission statement, on the other hand, is simple, clear,and impactful. It’s full of emotive words and tangible examples.It reads (emphasis added):Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970swith the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer withthe Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industryin innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operatingsystem, and iLife and professional applications. Appleis also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPodportable music and video players and iTunes online store,and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionaryiPhone. 7The words Jobs chooses to announce a new product havethree characteristics: they are simple, concrete, and emotionallycharged.» Simple. Free of jargon and with few syllables.» Concrete. Very specific phrases. Short, tangible descriptionsinstead of long, abstract discussions.» Emotional. Descriptive adjectives.Examples of each of these three characteristics appear in Jobs’sintroduction of the MacBook Air: “This is the MacBook Air. You canget a feel for how thin it is [concrete]. It has a full-size keyboard anddisplay [simple]. Isn’t it amazing [emotional]? This is what it looks

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS 119A Guru Who Keeps It SimpleIt was hard to miss financial guru Suze Orman in 2008 and2009 when the global financial markets were collapsing. Inaddition to appearing on her own CNBC show, the bestsellingauthor was a frequent guest on shows such as “Oprah” and“Larry King Live.” Banks and financial companies were alsousing her in advertisements meant to alleviate their customers’fears. I interviewed Orman several times and found herto be surprisingly candid about the secret to her success as acommunicator.“How do you make complicated financial topics easy tounderstand?” I once asked.“Too many people want to impress others with the informationthey have so others think the speaker is intelligent,”Orman responded. 8“But Suze,” I said, “If your message is too simple, don’t yourisk not being taken seriously?”I don’t care what people think about it. All I care about isthat the information I’m imparting empowers the listeneror reader of my material . . . If your intention is to impart amessage that will create change for the person listening,then if you ask me, it is respectful to that person to makethe message as simple as possible. For example, if I gaveyou directions to how to get to my house, you wouldwant me to give you the simplest directions to get there.If I made it more complicated, you would not be betteroff. You might get aggravated and give up. If it weresimple, chances are you will get in your car and try toget to my house rather than giving up and saying it’s notworth it. Others criticize simplicity because they needto feel that it’s more complicated. If everything were sosimple, they think their jobs could be eliminated. It’s ourfear of extinction, our fear of elimination, our fear of notbeing important that leads us to communicate things ina more complex way than we need to.” 9

120 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCElike. Isn’t it incredible [emotional]? It’s the world’s thinnest notebook[simple]. It has a gorgeous 13.3-inch wide-screen display anda phenomenal full-sized keyboard [emotional and concrete]. I’mstunned our engineering team could pull this off [emotional].” 10Table 10.3 lists even more examples of specific, concrete, andemotional phrases from the Jobs repertoire of language. Thisis just a small sample. Every Jobs presentation contains similarlanguage.Jargon: A Sure Way to Upset Jack WelchJack Welch made the observation, “Insecure managers createcomplexity.” During his twenty years as GE’s top executive, theconglomerate grew from $13 billion in revenue to $500 billion.Welch was on a mission to “declutter” everything about thecompany, from its management processes to its communication.He despised long, convoluted memos, meetings, andpresentations.In his book Jack: Straight from the Gut, Welch describesmeetings that left him “underwhelmed.” If you wanted toupset the new CEO, all you had to do was talk over his head.Welch would say, “Let’s pretend we’re in high school . . . takeme through the basics.” He recounts his first meeting with oneof his insurance leaders. Welch asked some simple questionsabout terms he was unfamiliar with. He writes, “So I interruptedhim to ask: ‘What’s the difference between facultativeand treaty insurance?’ After fumbling through a long answerfor several minutes, an answer I wasn’t getting, he finallyblurted out in exasperation, ‘How do you expect me to teachyou in five minutes what it has taken me twenty-five years tolearn!’ Needless to say, he didn’t last long.” 11Speaking in jargon carries penalties in a society that valuesspeech free from esoteric, incomprehensible bullshit. Speakingover people’s heads may cost you a job or prevent you fromadvancing as far as your capabilities might take you otherwise.

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS 121TABLE 10.3 SPECIFIC, CONCRETE, AND EMOTIONAL PHRASES INJOBS’S PRESENTATIONSEVENTApple Music Event, 2001Introduction of the world’sfirst seventeen-inch widescreennotebook, Macworld 2003Referencing the currentTitanium PowerBook,Macworld 2003Describing the newseventeen-inch PowerBook,Macworld 2003Jobs’s description of theoriginal MacintoshPersuading PepsiCo presidentJohn Sculley to becomeApple’s CEOPHRASE“The coolest thing about iPod is your entiremusic library fits in your pocket.” 12“I asked you to buckle up. Now I wantyou to put on your shoulder harness.” 13“The number one lust object.” 14“It’s stunning. It is the most incredibleproduct we have ever made. Look at thatscreen. It’s amazing. Look at how thin it is.Isn’t that incredible? When it’s closed, it’sonly one inch think. It’s beautiful, too. Thisis clearly the most advanced notebookcomputer ever made on the planet. Ourcompetitors haven’t even caught up withwhat we introduced two years ago; I don’tknow what they’re going to do about this.” 15“Insanely great.”“Do you want to spend the rest of your lifeselling sugared water or do you want achance to change the world?”Quote in Triumph of the Nerds “We’re here to put a dent in the universe.” 16Discussing CEO Gil Amelio’sreign at AppleJobs creating a new wordfor the launch of a new iPod,September 2008Unveiling the first seventeeninchnotebook computer,January 7, 2003“The products suck! There’s no sex in themanymore!” 17“iPod Touch is the funnest iPod we’ve evercreated.” 18“A giant leap beyond PC notebooks.Miraculously engineered.” 19

122 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCESome people will look at the language in this table and sayJobs is a master of hype. Well, hype is hype only if there’s no“there” there. It would be hard to argue with Jobs that theMacintosh (the first easy-to-use computer with a graphical interfaceand mouse) wasn’t “insanely great” or that products likethe MacBook Air aren’t “stunningly” thin.Jobs isn’t a hype-master as much as he’s the master of thecatchphrase. The folks at Apple think long and hard about thewords used to describe a product. Language is intended to stir upexcitement and create a “must-have” experience for Apple’s customers.There’s nothing wrong with that. Keep in mind that themajority of business language is gobbledygook—dull, abstract,and meaningless. Steve Jobs is anything but dull. Inject somezip into your words.It’s Like This . . .Another way to add zip to your language is to create analogies,comparing an idea or a product to a concept or product familiar toyour audience. When Steve Jobs shakes up a market category withthe introduction of an entirely new product, he goes out of his wayto compare the product to something that is widely understood,commonly used, and well known. Here are some examples:» ”Apple TV is like a DVD player for the twenty-first century”(Introduction of Apple TV, January 9, 2007)» ”iPod Shuffle is smaller and lighter than a pack of gum”(Introduction of iPod Shuffle, January 2005)» ”iPod is the size of a deck of cards” (Introduction of iPod,October 2001)When you find an analogy that works, stick with it. The moreyou repeat it, the more likely your customers are to remember it.If you do a Google search for articles about the products justmentioned, you will find thousands of links with the exactcomparisons that Jobs himself used. Following are the three

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS 123A Cure for Bad PitchesDon’t sell solutions; create stories instead. The New York Timescolumnist David Pogue loves a good pitch. He says the majorityof his columns come from pitches. What he doesn’t wantto hear is jargon. Surprisingly, PR professionals are among theworst offenders (surpassed only by bureaucrats, senior managers,and IBM consultants). Pogue argues that buzzwords(terminology such as “integrated,” “best of breed,” “B2B,” and“consumer-centric”) are unnecessary. The ideal pitch is a shortparagraph telling Pogue exactly what the product is and does.For example, one company wrote Pogue and said it had a newlaptop that could be dropped from six feet, could be dunkedin water, and could survive three-hundred-degree heat andstill work. This clever description was enough to grab Pogue’sattention.The Bad Pitch blog is a must-read for PR, marketing, andsales professionals. The site carries actual pitches from PR professionalswho should know better than to issue impenetrablejargon masking as a press release.Here’s an example: “Hope you’re well. I’d like to introduceyou to, a new, place-based out-of-home digitalnetwork that delivers relevant, localized media withinthe rhythm of consumers’ daily rituals, like afternoon coffeeor sandwiches at lunch.” This particular pitch came from acompany that puts video billboards in delis. Why couldn’t theyjust say that? It’s too simple, that’s why. People are afraid ofsimplicity. This is not an isolated example. The site is updateddaily with pitches from large and small PR agencies as wellas small and large corporations. Apple pitches rarely makethe site, because the company’s press releases tell a storyin the same conversational language that Jobs uses in hispresentations.As the site’s mantra explains, “A good pitch disappears andturns into the story; a bad pitch becomes the story.” Follow theblog posts at http://badpitch.blogspot.com.

124 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEanalogies just reviewed (in the format of a search phrase) andthe number of links to articles using those phrases:» Apple TV + DVD player for twenty-first century: 40,000 links» iPod Shuffle + pack of gum: 46,500 links» iPod + deck of cards: 227,000 linksYour listeners and viewers are attempting to categorize a product—theyneed to place the concept in a mental bucket. Createthe mental bucket for them. If you don’t, you are making theirbrains work too hard. According to Emory University psychologyprofessor Dr. Gregory Berns, the brain wants to consume theleast amount of energy. That means it doesn’t want to work toohard to figure out what people are trying to say. “The efficiencyprinciple has major ramifications,” he states. “It means the braintakes shortcuts whenever it can.” 20 Analogies are shortcuts.Nothing will destroy the power of your pitch more thoroughlythan the use of buzzwords and complexity. You’re notimpressing anyone with your “best-of-breed, leading-edge,agile solutions.” Instead, you are putting people to sleep, losingtheir business, and setting back your career. Clear, concise,and “zippy” language will help transform your prospects intocustomers and customers into evangelists. Delight your customerswith the words you choose—stroke their brains’ dopaminereceptors with words that cause them to feel good wheneverthey think of you and your product. People cannot follow yourvision or share your enthusiasm if they get lost in the fog.Word Fun with TitlesYour customers are your most potent evangelists. I recall aconversation with one of my clients, Cranium founder RichardTait, who said he sold one million games with no advertising,all word of mouth. “Never forget that your customers are yoursales force,” he told me.His customers—he calls them “Craniacs”—want to havefun. Since fun was the name of the game, so to speak, Tait

USE “AMAZINGLY ZIPPY” WORDS 125decided that every facet of the company should have somewhimsy associated with it. He started with job titles. Craniumemployees are allowed to make up their own titles. Forexample, Tait is not Cranium’s CEO. He is the Grand Poo-Bah.No kidding. It’s on his business card.You might think it’s silly, but I’ll tell you that when I firstwalked into the company’s Seattle headquarters, I was hit witha wave of fun, enthusiasm, and engagement the likes of whichI had never seen before and I have never seen since.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Unclutter your copy. Eliminate redundant language,buzzwords, and jargon. Edit, edit, and edit some more.» Run your paragraphs through the UsingEnglish tool tosee just how “dense” it is.» Have fun with words. It’s OK to express enthusiasm foryour product through superlatives or descriptive adjectives.Jobs thought the buttons on the Macintosh screenlooked so good that you would want to “lick” them.That’s confidence.

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N E 11SCENE 11SCEShare the StageDon’t be encumbered by history. Go outand create something wonderful.—ROBERT NOYCE, INTEL COFOUNDERAt Macworld on January 10, 2006, Jobs announcedthat the new iMac would be the first Apple computerwith an Intel processor inside. Earlier the previousyear, Jobs had announced that the “brain transplant”would begin in June 2006. On January 10, he told the audiencethat he wanted to give everyone an update on the schedule. Ashe began, dry-ice-created smoke wafted upward in the middleof the stage. A man walked out wearing the famous bunny suitworn in Intel’s ultrasterile microprocessor manufacturing plants.The man was carrying a wafer, one of the thin, round slices ofsilicon from which chips are made. He walked over to Jobs andshook hands. As the lights came up, it became obvious that theperson in the bunny suit was none other than Intel CEO PaulOtellini.“Steve, I wanted to report that Intel is ready,” Otellini said ashe handed Jobs the wafer. “Apple is ready, too,” said Jobs. “Westarted a partnership less than a year ago to make this happen,”Jobs told the audience. “Our teams have worked hard togetherto make this happen in record time. It’s been incredible to seehow our engineers have bonded and how well this has gone.” 1Otellini credited the Apple team in return. The two men talkedabout the achievement, they shook hands again, and Otellinileft the stage. Jobs then turned to the audience and revealedthe surprise: Apple would be rolling out the first Mac with Intel127

128 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEprocessors, not in June as originally announced, but today. SeeFigure 11.1.Few companies are more closely associated with their foundersthan Apple is with Jobs. Regardless, Jobs himself is morethan happy to share the spotlight with employees and partnersonstage. A Jobs presentation is rarely a one-man play. He featuressupporting characters who perform key roles in the narrative.Microsoft founder Bill Gates was one of the most unexpectedpartners to share the stage with Jobs. In 1997, at the MacworldExpo in Boston, Jobs, who had recently returned to Apple asinterim CEO, told the audience that in order to restore Apple tohealth, some relationships had to be revisited. He announcedthat Microsoft’s Internet Explorer would be the default browseron the Macintosh and that Microsoft would make a strategicinvestment of $150 million in the company. On that note, heintroduced a “special guest,” live via satellite. When Bill Gatesappeared, you could hear some cheering, along with a lot ofboos. Gates spoke for a few minutes and graciously expressed hisadmiration for what Apple had accomplished.Figure 11.1 Steve Jobs sharing the stage with Intel CEO Paul Otellini.Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

SHARE THE STAGE 129Jobs returned to the stage and, knowing that many peoplewould be unhappy, sounded like a stern father as he admonishedthe audience to embrace the relationship. “If we want tomove forward and see Apple happy and prospering, we have tolet go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,”Jobs said. “If we screw up, it’s not somebody else’s fault; it’s ourfault . . . If we want Microsoft Office on the Mac, we’d bettertreat the company that puts it out with a little bit of gratitude.” 2Great actors are often said to be “giving”; they help otheractors in the scene give better performances. When Jobs introducesanother person onstage—an employee, a partner, or aformer nemesis such as Gates—he’s the most giving of performers.Everyone needs to shine for the good of the show.The Brain Craves VarietyThe brain doesn’t pay attention to boring things. Not that Jobsis boring. Far from it. However, our brains crave variety. No one,no matter how smooth and polished, can carry an audience forlong before his or her listeners start to glance at their watches.Great speechwriters have known this for years. Speeches writtenfor John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama werescripted to last no longer than twenty minutes. A Jobs keynotepresentation lasts much longer, of course, closer to 1.5 hours,but Jobs keeps it interesting by incorporating demonstrations,video clips, and—very important—guest speakers.Know What You Don’t KnowIn October 2008, Apple introduced new MacBook laptops craftedfrom single blocks of aluminum. The design breakthroughallowed Apple to build mobile computers that were lighter andstronger than previous designs. “Let’s talk about notebooks. Wewant to talk about some technologies and discoveries that we’vemade that help us build notebooks in some new ways,” Jobs said. 3However, instead of describing the new process himself, Jobsintroduced Jony Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of design.

130 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEIve walked onstage, Jobs took a seat, and Ive gave the audiencea six-minute crash course on notebook design. He explainedhow the new process allowed Apple to start with a 2.5-poundslab of aluminum and carve it out until the final frame weighedjust one-quarter of a pound. The result was a stronger, thinner,and lighter computer. Jobs retook the stage and concluded thesegment by thanking Ive and reaffirming the headline of thesegment: “A new way to build notebooks.” Jobs may have hishands all over Apple, but he knows what he doesn’t know. Jobsshares the spotlight with other actors, who add credibility andexcitement to the plot.Your Best Sales ToolWhen Apple launched an online movie-rental service, Jobsannounced the list of studios that would make films availablefor online rentals via iTunes. The list included all the heavyweights—Touchstone,Sony, Universal, MGM, Walt Disney, andothers. Still, Apple faced skepticism. The company was launchinga movie-rental service in a field with established competitorssuch as Blockbuster and Netflix. Apple was betting that peoplewould want the choice of watching their movies on their computers,iPods, iPhones, or wide-screen television sets via AppleTV. Jobs added credibility to the initiative by sharing the stagewith one of Apple’s key partners.“We have support from every major studio,” said Jobs.“The first studio to sign up was Twentieth Century Fox. We’vedeveloped a really great working relationship with Fox. It’smy pleasure to introduce the chairman and CEO of TwentiethCentury Fox, Jim Gianopulos.”An enthusiastic Gianopulos bounded onto the stage andtalked about what people want: great movies; easy access; convenience;control over where, when, and how they watch movies;and the ability to take the movie with them wherever they go.“When Steve came to us with the idea, it was a no-brainer. It wasthe most exciting, coolest thing we’ve ever heard,” Gianopulossaid. “Video rentals are not a new thing. But there was music

SHARE THE STAGE 131and then iPod. There was the phone and then iPhone. Appledoes things in an intuitive, insightful, and innovative way. Itwill be a transformative version of the rental model, and we’reincredibly excited about it. We couldn’t be happier and prouderof our partnership.” 4Gianopulos had provided Jobs with a company’s best salestool—a customer’s endorsement. Best of all, the two menappeared side by side. A reference is good. A customer or partnerphysically sharing the stage is even better.Number One Reason People BuyYour customers are always mindful of budgets, but in tough economictimes they are even more so, casting a critical eye on everylast dollar. Prospects do not want to act as a beta group. Yourproduct must deliver what it promises—saving your customersmoney, making them money, or providing the tools to make moreefficient use of the money they have. Testimonials and endorsementsare persuasive because, as discussed earlier, word of mouthis the number one influencer of purchasing decisions.Successful companies know that a pool of reputable andsatisfied customers is critical for sales success. In fact, some companieseven have specific employees whose job it is to gathercase studies and distribute them to their prospects. Most smallbusiness owners do not have the resources to designate a “casestudy” specialist, but they can easily adopt some of the techniquesused by the world’s most successful companies. Oneproven strategy is to steal a page from the Apple playbook andinvite your customers to share the spotlight, either in person,on video, or, at the very least, through quotes.Don’t forget the media. Sharing the stage with publicationsthat rave about your product will bolster your message.Jobs has a love-hate relationship with the media, but for presentationpurposes, there’s a lot of love in the room. In thefirst few minutes of his Macworld 2008 keynote address, Jobsannounced that Leopard (the latest version of the OS X operatingsystem) had sold five million copies in its first ninety days,

132 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCETwenty-First-Century Case StudyThe case study remains an important marketing tool. Mostof us are familiar with white papers or simple case studiesfeatured on a company’s website, but as video and audiobecome much less expensive to create and distribute online,some innovative companies are tapping into the power ofYouTube to deliver customer evidence. Buying a $200 Flipvideo recorder, creating an inexpensive video of a customertestimonial, and posting it on YouTube carries as much weightas a slick marketing production. Posting video and audiotestimonials on your site and incorporating them into yourpresentations will add another valuable layer of authenticityand credibility to your story.If you are a business owner or an entrepreneur, it is importantto develop a list of customers you can use as references.In fact, a customer who offers a testimonial is worth more thanone who doesn’t. Look for customers who will help you winnew customers. Then, give them a reason to offer a reference.This could be as simple as offering a deeper relationship withyour company, such as providing more access to you or yourstaff when your customer has questions. Other benefits mightinclude access to product teams, input into new designs orproducts, and visibility.Give your partners a reason to participate, and once theydo, incorporate them into your presentations. Most customerswill not be available for your presentation, but try the next bestthing: insert a video testimonial into your presentation. It mightnot have the same impact as Paul Otellini appearing onstagewith Jobs, but it might give you a step up on your competitors.marking the most successful release of OS X. He also madesure that everyone knew that Leopard had been a hit with themedia. “The press has been very kind. It’s been a critical successas well as a commercial success,” said Jobs. 5 As Jobs readreviews from major technology influencers, a slide appeared

SHARE THE STAGE 133with their quotes. Here are the endorsements, along with theirsources:» “In my view, Leopard is better and faster than Vista.”—WaltMossberg, Wall Street Journal» “Leopard is powerful, polished, and carefully conceived.“—David Pogue, New York Times» “With Leopard, Apple’s operating system widens its leadesthetically and technologically.”—Ed Baig, USA Today» “It’s by far the best operating system ever written for the vastmajority of consumers.”—Ed Mendelson, PC magazineThe last quote drew laughs. The irony of PC magazine’s favorablyreviewing a Mac gave the audience a chuckle. Reading favorablereviews is a common technique in a Steve Jobs presentation.Although Americans rate journalists among the least trustworthyprofessionals (only one step above politicians), a favorableendorsement from a top-tier media outlet or blogger still carriesweight, giving buyers confidence that they are making a wisechoice.Successful companies that launch a splashy new product usuallyhave tested it with a group of partners who have agreed toendorse it publicly or distribute review copies to the media andinfluencers. This arrangement gives those companies instantreferences, endorsements, and testimonials. Your customersneed a reason to believe in you, and they want to minimize therisk associated with a new product or service. Having experts,customers, or partners testify to the effectiveness of yourproduct will help you overcome the psychological barrier toparticipation.Give Credit Where Credit’s DueEmployees also get top billing in a Steve Jobs presentation. Atthe conclusion of Macworld 2007, Jobs said, “I want to highlightthe folks who worked on these products. Would all of thefolks who worked on today’s products please stand up? Let’s givethem a round of applause. Thank you so much. I also can’t leave

134 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEwithout thanking the families. They haven’t seen a lot of us inthe last six months. Without the support of our families, wecouldn’t do what we do. We get to do this amazing work. Theyunderstand when we’re not home for dinner on time becausewe’ve got to be in the lab, working on something because theintro is coming up. You don’t know how much we need you andappreciate you. So, thank you.” 6It’s very easy to make the presentation all about you and yourproduct. Don’t forget to credit the people who make it possible.It shows your customers that you are a person of integrity, and,by praising your employees or colleagues publicly, you inspirethem to work harder for you.Finally, Jobs shares the stage with his audience, his customers,often thanking them profusely. He kicked off Macworld 2008by recapping the previous year. “I just want to take a momentto say thank you. We have had tremendous support from all ofour customers, and we really, really appreciate it. So, thank youfor an extraordinary 2007.” 7 Jobs built a rapport with his audienceby acknowledging the people who matter—the people whobuild the products and the people who buy them.Jobs Even Shares the Stage. . . with Himself!Steve Jobs is the only person who can invite another Steve Jobsonstage. In 1999, “ER” star Noah Wyle traded in his scrubs forblue jeans, playing Jobs in the TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley.In a practical joke at the 1999 Macworld Expo in New York, Wyleappeared onstage to kick off the keynote. At first glance (and topeople seated far away), he looked like Jobs—blue jeans, blackmock, and running shoes. Wyle had the same mannerisms andeven used some of Jobs’s famous phrases. “This is going to be agreat Macworld,” he said. “There’s something happening here.The resurgence of Apple. You’re going to see great new productstoday. Some insanely great new products. Some really, totally,wildly, insanely great new products!” The audience went crazywhen the real Jobs showed up.

SHARE THE STAGE 135Jobs had a ton of fun with Wyle, telling the actor that he wasblowing the impression. Jobs showed Wyle how he should act,talk, and walk if he really wanted to nail the impersonation.Jobs told the audience, “I invited Noah here to see how Ireally act and because he’s a better me than me!”“Thank you. I’m just glad you’re not mad about the movie,”said Wyle.“What? Me upset? It’s just a movie,” said Jobs. “But if you dowant to make things right, you could get me a part on ‘ER.’ ” 8The exchange generated a huge laugh and the bit showedthat Jobs could poke some fun at himself. I still haven’t seen anyother presenter who could share the stage with himself!DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Upon release of a new product or service, make sure youhave customers who tested the product and are availableto back your claims. Media reviews are also helpful,especially from highly reputable publications or popularblogs.» Incorporate testimonials into your presentation. Theeasiest way is to videotape your customer talking aboutyour product, edit the tape to no more than two minutesin length, and insert it into your presentation.» Publicly thank employees, partners, and customers. Anddo it often.

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N E 12SCENE 12SCEStage YourPresentationwith PropsJobs has turned his keynote speeches at Macworldinto massive media events. They are marketingtheater, staged for the world’s press.—LEANDER KAHNEYIndustry observers credit Apple for redefining notebook computerdesign with its MacBook family of computers unveiledon October 14, 2008. As described in the preceding chapter,Jobs had solicited Apple designer Jony Ive to explain the processof making the computer. The new MacBooks were builtwith a frame (unibody enclosure) crafted from a single blockof aluminum. It doesn’t sound impressive, but it represented afeat of engineering that produced thinner, lighter, more ruggednotebooks that looked a lot cooler than their predecessors.About twenty-five minutes into the October presentation, Jobsdiscussed the new aluminum frame. He could have talked aboutit and perhaps shown a photograph or two, but Jobs being Jobs,he went above and beyond. He turned the presentation intoa kinesthetic experience, letting the audience of analysts andreporters see and touch the frame for themselves.“This is what the unibody looks like. It’s especially beautiful,”Jobs said as he held up a sample frame.137

138 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE“It’s a much more rigid, stronger construction. It’s so cool, I’dlike you to see it. If we can get the lights up, I’d actually like topass one of these around so you can see how beautiful and hightechthis is.”At this point, Apple representatives who had been positionedat the end of each row handed audience members samples ofthe aluminum frames to pass around. As people touched andexamined the frames for themselves, Jobs joked, “We need themback,” eliciting a laugh from the audience. For the next sixtyseconds, Jobs did not say a word. He let the product speak foritself.Jobs then channeled his inner John Madden and providedcolor commentary as the audience members continued to examinethe frames: “Teams of hundreds of people have worked onthis for many, many months to figure out how to design thesethings and manufacture them economically. This is a tour deforce of engineering.”Jobs remained silent for the next thirty seconds until everyonehad a chance to handle the frames. “OK. A precisionunibody enclosure. You’re the first to get your hands on one,”Jobs said as he closed the section and moved on to another featureof the new notebooks. 1 Using props, Jobs had transformedwhat could have been a boring explanation into an interesting,multisensory experience.Kawasaki MethodJobs introduces stage props in every presentation, usually duringdemonstrations. In The Macintosh Way, Guy Kawasaki writesthat master communicators give good demo. “The right demodoesn’t cost much,” he points out, “but it can counteract yourcompetitors’ marketing and advertising. A great demo informsthe audience about your product, communicates the benefits ofowning your product, and inspires the audience to take action.” 2Kawasaki describes the five qualities of an outstanding demonstration.According to Kawasaki, good demos are as follows:

STAGE YOUR PRESENTATION WITH PROPS 139» Short. A good demo does not suck the wind out of your audience.» Simple. A good demo is simple and easy to follow. “It shouldcommunicate no more than one or two key messages. The goalis to show the audience enough to get them tantalized but notso much that they get bewildered.” 3» Sweet. A good demo “shows the hottest features and differentiatesyour product from the competition’s.” There’s more: “Youhave to show real functionality, though. Imagine that everytime you show a feature someone shouts, ‘So what?’ ” 4» Swift. A good demo is fast paced. “Never do anything in ademo that lasts more than fifteen seconds.” 5» Substantial. A good demo clearly demonstrates how yourproduct offers a solution to a real-world problem your audienceis experiencing. “Customers want to do things with yourproduct, so they want to know how the product works.” 6As noted in Scene 9, Jobs nailed all of Kawasaki’s conditionsfor a good demo when he launched the iPhone 3G at the WWDCin October 2008. The phone ran on the faster, 3G cellular networks,an upgrade to the second-generation (2G) wireless datanetworks. Jobs’s words from the presentation are listed in theleft column of Table 12.1, and the right column describes thecorresponding slides. 7In a brief demo, Jobs had met Kawasaki’s criteria for a greatdemo.» It’s short. The EDGE-versus-3G demo lasted less than twominutes.» It’s simple. What could be more simple than showing twowebsites loading on a smartphone? That was as complicated asit got.» It’s sweet. Jobs placed the 3G network in a head-to-head faceoffwith its primary competitor, the EDGE network.» It’s swift. Jobs keeps the demo moving but remains silent atcritical points to build the drama.» It’s substantial. The demo resolves a real-world problem: waitingan excruciatingly long time for graphically rich sites to load.

140 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCETABLE 12.1 JOBS’S GREAT DEMO AT THE 2008 WWDCSTEVE’S WORDS”Why do you want 3G? Well, you wantit for faster data downloads. Andthere’s nowhere you want faster datadownloads than the browser anddownloading e-mail attachments.”“So, let’s take a look at the browser.We’ve taken an iPhone 3G and, at thesame place and same location, we’vedownloaded a website on the EDGEnetwork and one using 3G.”“Let’s see how we do.” [Jobs remainssilent as both images continue to loadon the screen; it’s a site with a lot ofimages and a complex layout]“Twenty-one seconds on 3G; [waitssilently for an additional thirty seconds,crossing his hands in front of his body,smiling, watching the audience—elicits laughs] fifty-nine seconds onEDGE. Same phone, same location:3G is 2.8 times faster. It’s approachingWi-Fi speeds. It’s amazingly zippy!”STEVE’S SLIDESPhotographs of two icons: onerepresents the Internet, and thesecond represents e-mailAnimated image of twoiPhones loading a websitesimultaneously: the sameNational Geographic websitebegins loading on each; the leftiPhone is on the EDGE network,and the one on the right is usingthe new iPhone 3G networkWebsite loading on both iPhoneimages3G site has completely loaded,while EDGE phone is stillloadingHistory-Making DemoDemonstrations and props play a role in every Steve Jobs presentation,some of which are more history-making than others.“We’re going to make some history today,” Steve Jobs said as hekicked off Macworld 2007. The history-making event was theintroduction of the iPhone:“We want to reinvent the phone,” Jobs said. “I want to showyou four things: the phone app, photos, calendar, and SMS

STAGE YOUR PRESENTATION WITH PROPS 141text messaging [texting between two cell phones]—the kind ofthings you would find on a typical phone—in a very untypicalway. So, let’s go ahead and take a look.” As he always does, Jobswalked to stage right (the audience’s left) to sit down and conductthe demo, giving the audience a clear view of the screen.“You see that icon in the lower-left corner of the phone? I justpush it, and boom, I have the phone. Now I’m in Contacts. Howdo I move around Contacts? I just scroll through them. Let’s sayI want to place a call to Jony Ive. I just push here, and I see JonyIve’s contact with all his information. If I want to call Jony, allI do is push his number. I’ll call his mobile number right now.”The phone rings, and Ive picks up to say hello.Jobs continued, “It’s been two and a half years, and I can’ttell you how thrilled I am to make the first public phone callwith iPhone.” At this point in the demo, Apple’s VP of corporatemarketing, Phil Schiller, calls in. Jobs places Ive on hold andconferences in the two callers to demonstrate one-click conferencing.Jobs proceeds to demonstrate the SMS texting function,followed by the photo package that came standard in the iPhone.“We have the coolest photo management app ever—certainlyon a mobile device, but I think maybe ever.” Jobs then shows offthe capabilities of the photo gallery, using his fingers to widen,pinch, and manipulate the images. “Pretty cool,” he says. “Isn’tthis awesome?” 8 Jobs appeared genuinely thrilled with the newfeatures and, as he often does when demonstrating new products,looked like a kid in a candy store.Having Fun with DemosDon’t forget to have fun with demos. Jobs certainly does. Heconcluded the iPhone demonstration by showing how to putGoogle Maps to work on the device. He searched for a Starbucksin San Francisco near Moscone West, the site of the conference.A list of Starbucks stores appeared on the phone, and Jobs said,“Let’s give them a call.” A Starbucks employee picked up andsaid, “Good morning. Starbucks. How can I help you?”“Yes,” said Jobs. “I’d like to order four thousand lattes togo, please. No, just kidding. Wrong number. Good-bye.” 9 This

142 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEProps Galore for an Italian TV HostI’m always looking for communicators who, like Jobs, push theenvelope and create exciting ways to engage an audience. I’verarely seen anyone use more props than a young Italian entrepreneurand television host, Marco Montemagno.Montemagno frequently speaks on the topic of Internetculture, showing Italians why the Internet should be embracedand not feared. He presents to groups as large as three thousandpeople in places such as Rome, Milan, and Venice. Sincethe majority of people in his audience are Web novices, he useslanguage that everyone can understand (well, assuming youknow Italian). His slides are very simple and visual; he oftenemploys just photographs, animation, and video. But what trulydifferentiates Montemagno from the majority of presenters ishis unbelievable number of props and demonstrations. Hereare three guidelines he follows to create dynamic moments:1. Give your audience something to do. Montemagno’saudience members get a pen and paper before taking theirseats. During the presentation, he asks them to turn to theperson next to them and, in thirty seconds, sketch the person’sportrait. After that, he asks them to write the title oftheir favorite song, movie, and so forth. They then pass thepaper around, continuing until each paper has changedhands up to five times. Everyone eventually takes home apiece of paper that once belonged to someone else. Theexercise is intended to demonstrate how information isshared among individuals across networks.2. Ask someone to share the stage. In other parts of hispresentation, Montemagno will ask for volunteers to joinhim onstage. In one exercise, he asks them to fold a T-shirt.Most people will take about twenty seconds and fold theshirt in a conventional way. When they’re done, he showsa popular YouTube video of someone demonstrating howto fold a shirt in five seconds. Montemagno then duplicatesthe feat as the audience cheers. His point is that the

STAGE YOUR PRESENTATION WITH PROPS 143Internet can instruct on a deep, intellectual level, but it canalso make the most mundane tasks easier.3. Make use of your skills onstage. Montemagno is a formerworld-ranked table tennis player and works that unique skillinto his presentations. He invites another professional playeronstage, and the two hit the ball back and forth quickly andeffortlessly. As they do, Montemagno, speaking into a wirelessheadset, compares table tennis to the Internet.Steve Jobs has elevated presentations to an art form, butfew of us will ever introduce a product as world-changing asa revolutionary new computer. This fact is all the more reasonto find new, exciting ways to engage your audience. To seevideo clips of Montemagno in action, visit his site: http://montemagno.typepad.com/marco_blog/blog_index.html.exchange elicited a huge laugh. Jobs had literally crank-calleda Starbucks as part of the demo. Jobs has so much fun showingoff new products that his enthusiasm leaps off the stage andrubs off on everyone in attendance. It is precisely because hehas fun that people enjoy watching him.In another prime example of having fun with demos, Jobstook some quirky photographs of himself while introducing afeature called Photo Booth on October 12, 2005. Photo Boothis a software application for using a Web camera to take photographsand video.“Now I want to show you Photo Booth,” said Jobs. “This is anincredible way to have some fun. I can just go ahead and takemy picture.” Jobs looked into the built-in Web camera on thecomputer and smiled for a few seconds as his photograph wassnapped and appeared on-screen. He said, “Isn’t that great? Letme show you some pretty cool effects.” Jobs proceeded to snapcomical photographs of himself using features such as Thermal,X-Ray, and Andy Warhol. “But it gets even better,” Jobs said as hesmiled and rubbed his hand together. “We decided to put in the

144 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEteenage effects.” 10 Jobs snapped more photographs of himself asthe software distorted his face into funny shapes—squeezing it,widening it, and otherwise contorting the images. The audienceroared as Jobs relished the moment.Focus on the One ThingEach new Apple product or application contains numerous benefitsand features, but Jobs will often highlight just one. Thinkof it like a movie trailer that teases the audience by revealingonly the best parts. If people want the full experience, they’llhave to watch the movie.At WWDC in October 2007, Jobs spent most of the keynotepresentation discussing OS X Leopard, but, as he often does, hehad “one more thing” for the audience. Jobs introduced Safarifor Windows, the “most innovative browser in the world andnow the fastest browser on Windows.” After telling the audiencethat he would like to show them the new browser, he walkedto stage right, took his seat behind a computer, and started theAdd Pizzazz to Online MeetingsSeventy new Web meetings are launched every minute onsoftware platforms such as WebEx, according to Cisco, whichpurchased the online meeting service. Today popular online“webinar” and collaboration tools, including WebEx, CitrixGoToMeeting, Adobe Connect, and Microsoft Office LiveMeeting, allow you to add some high-tech pizzazz to demos.For example, you can create polls and receive instant feedback.Sales professionals can conduct a live demonstrationof a product from a computer—drawing, highlighting, andpointing to areas right on the screen. Better yet, those samesales professionals can turn over mouse control to the clientor prospect, letting the customer on the other end see, touch,and “feel” the product. Demonstrations are important elementsin any presentation, offline or online.

STAGE YOUR PRESENTATION WITH PROPS 145demo. He told the audience that what he really wanted to showoff was Safari’s speed compared with Internet Explorer (IE 7).The demo screen showed both browsers side by side. Jobsloaded a series of websites simultaneously on both. Safari accomplishedthe task in 6.64 seconds, while IE 7 took 13.56 secondsto accomplish the same task. “Safari is the fastest browser onWindows,” Jobs concluded. 11 The entire demo took less thanthree minutes. It could have lasted much longer, but Jobs choseto focus on one feature and one feature only. Jobs doesn’t overwhelmhis audience. Just as he eliminates clutter on slides, hisdemos are likewise free of extraneous messages.In 2006, Apple added a podcast studio to GarageBand, a toolbundled into the iLife suite of applications intended to makeit easy for users to create and distribute multimedia content.“We’ve added a lot of great stuff to GarageBand,” said Jobs, “butI’m going to focus on one thing to demo today, and that is we haveadded a podcast studio to GarageBand. We think GarageBand isnow going to be the best tool in the world to create podcasts. It’spretty great. Let me go ahead and give you a demo.”Jobs walked to stage right, sat down, and created a shortpodcast in four steps. First, Jobs recorded the audio track andhad loads of fun with it. He even stopped the first recordingand started over because the audience caused him to laugh sohard. Jobs recorded the following: “Hi, I’m Steve. Welcome tomy weekly podcast, ‘Supersecret Apple Rumors,’ featuring thehottest rumors about our favorite company. I have some prettygood sources inside Apple, and this is what I’m hearing: thenext iPod will be huge, an eight-pounder with a ten-inch screen!Well, that’s all for today. See you next week.”After making the playful recording, Jobs walked through thenext three steps, showing the audience how to add artwork andbackground music. Once done, he played the podcast and said,“Pretty cool, huh? That is the podcast studio, which is now builtinto GarageBand.” 12Although Jobs did a nice demonstration of the podcast studio,it could not compete with the first release of GarageBand in 2005:“Today we’re announcing something so cool: a fifth app thatwill be part of the iLife family. It’s name is GarageBand. What is

146 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEGarageBand? GarageBand is a major new pro music tool. But it’s foreveryone. I’m not a musician, so to help me demo GarageBand, weasked a friend, John Mayer, to help us.” 13 Jobs took a seat behind acomputer, and Mayer sat down at a mini keyboard hooked to theMac. As Mayer played, Jobs manipulated the sound to make thepiano resemble a bass, a choir, a guitar, and other instruments.Jobs then laid down multiple tracks, creating a bandlike sound. Hetook care to explain what he was doing at every step, to show theaudience just how easy it was to create a studio-like experience.Jobs must have rehearsed the demo for hours, because helooked like an expert musician. Nevertheless, Jobs knows whathe doesn’t know, and sometimes, as in the case of GarageBand,it makes more sense to bring in an outsider who speaks directlyto the intended audience.Element of SurpriseJobs stunned developers when he announced a transition thathad been rumored but largely dismissed—the transition fromIBM/Motorola PowerPC chips to Intel processors. During the2005 WWDC, where he made the announcement, Jobs acknowledgedthat one of the major challenges would be to make sureThe Next-Best Thing to John MayerOf course, you’re not going to persuade John Mayer toperform at your next event, but do think about creative waysto reach your target audience. I watched an entrepreneurpitching his new Web service to venture capitalists in SanFrancisco. The service was geared to the teenage market, soit didn’t make sense for a forty-something entrepreneur todemonstrate it. Instead, the founder introduced the companyand then passed the demo off to two teens (a boy and a girl),who talked about their experience with the site and what theyespecially loved about it. The demo was different, engaging,and ultimately successful.

STAGE YOUR PRESENTATION WITH PROPS 147OS X would run efficiently on Intel chips. Having some fun withthe audience, he said that the OS X had been “living a doublelife” for five years, secretly being developed to run on bothPowerPC and Intel processors “just in case.” The result, said Jobs,was that Mac OS X is “singing on Intel processors.”He then hit the audience with the unexpected: “As a matterof fact, this system I’ve been using . . .” His voice trails off, heflashes a knowing smile, and the audience laughs when it sinksConnect with Three Types of LearnersDemonstrations help speakers make an emotional connectionwith every type of learner in the audience: visual, auditory, andkinesthetic.» Visual learners. About 40 percent of us are visual learners,people who learn through seeing. This group retains informationthat is highly visual. To reach visual learners, avoidcramming too much text onto the screen. Build slides thathave few words and plenty of pictures. Remember: individualsare more likely to act on information they have a connectionwith, but they cannot connect with anything that they havenot internalized. Visual learners connect through seeing.» Auditory learners. These people learn through listening.Auditory learners represent about 20 to 30 percent of youraudience. Individuals who learn through listening benefit fromverbal and rhetorical techniques that are featured in Act 3.Tell personal stories or use vivid examples to support your keymessages.» Kinesthetic learners. These people learn by doing, moving,and touching. In short, they are “hands-on.” They getbored listening for long periods. So, include activities inyour presen tation to keep kinesthetic learners engaged:pass around objects as Jobs did with the aluminum frame,conduct writing exercises, or have them participate indemonstrations.

148 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEin that the system is running on new Intel processors. “Let’shave a look,” Jobs says as he walks to the side of the stage. He sitsdown and begins exploring many of the conventional computertasks, such as calendar functions, e-mail, photographs, browsing,and movies, loading and working quickly and effortlessly.He concluded the two-minute demo by saying, “This is MacOS X running on Intel.” 14The CEO SidekickCisco’s Jim Grubb plays the sidekick to CEO John Chambers.Grubb’s title is, literally, Chief Demonstration Officer. Nearlyevery Chambers presentation involves a demonstration,and Grubb is Chambers’s go-to guy for some sixty events ayear. The demonstrations are unique and truly remarkable.Cisco replicates a scenario onstage complete with furnitureand props: it could be an office, a retail store, or rooms of ahouse. In a demonstration at the 2009 Consumer ElectronicsShow in Las Vegas, Chambers and Grubb called a doctor in aremote location thousands of miles away and, using Cisco’sTelePresence technology, which lets you see a person asthough he or she is right in front of you, held a medical evaluationover the network.Chambers enjoys needling Grubb with lines such as “Areyou nervous, Jim? You seem a little tense,” or “It’s OK if youmess up. I’ll just fire you.” Most of the jokes between thetwo men are scripted but are still funny as Grubb just smiles,laughs it off, and continues with the demonstration—theperfect straight man. Grubb studied music and theater in college.His polished performance reflects his training. Althoughit appears effortless, he and his staff spend countless hours inthe lab testing and practicing, not only to simplify complicatednetworking technology so it’s easy to understand in a fifteenminutedemonstration but also to make sure it works, so hisboss doesn’t get mad!

STAGE YOUR PRESENTATION WITH PROPS 149The launch of the iPhone in 2007 also provided Jobs with amemorable prop. He showed the audience how they could listento their favorite music by playing one of his favorite songs fromthe Red Hot Chili Peppers. A phone call interrupted the musicand a photo of Apple’s VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller, appearedon the phone. Jobs answered it and talked to Schiller who wasstanding in the audience on another phone. Schiller requested aphotograph; Jobs retrieved it and e-mailed it, and went back tolistening to his song. Jobs is a showman, incorporating just theright amount of theater to make features come alive.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Build in a product demo during the planning phase ofyour presentation. Keep the demo short, sweet, andsubstantial. If you can introduce another person on yourteam to participate in the demonstration, do so.» Commit to the demo. Comedians say a joke works onlyif you commit to it. In the same way, commit to yourdemo, especially if your product has any entertainmentvalue at all. Have fun with it.» Provide something for every type of learner in youraudience: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

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N E 13SCENE 13SCEReveal a “HolyShit” MomentPeople will forget what you said, peoplewill forget what you did, but people willnever forget how you made them feel.—MAYA ANGELOUEvery office worker has seen a manila envelope. But wheremost people see a manila envelope as a means of distributingdocuments, Steve Jobs sees a memorable momentthat will leave his audience in awe.“This is the MacBook Air,” he said in January 2008, “so thinit even fits inside one of those envelopes you see floating aroundthe office.” With that, Jobs walked to the side of the stage, pickedup one such envelope, and pulled out a notebook computer.The audience went wild as the sound of hundreds of camerasclicking and flashing filled the auditorium. Like a proud parentshowing off a newborn, Jobs held the computer head-high forall to see. “You can get a feel for how thin it is. It has a full-sizekeyboard and full-size display. Isn’t it amazing? It’s the world’sthinnest notebook,” said Jobs. 1The photo of Jobs pulling the computer from the envelopeproved to be the most popular of the event and was carried bymajor newspapers, magazines, and websites. The dramatic introductioneven sparked an entrepreneur to build a carrying sleevefor the MacBook Air that looked like, you guessed it, a manilaenvelope. See Figure 13.1.151

152 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEFigure 13.1 Jobs holding up the MacBook Air after dramatically removingit from an office-sized manila envelope.TONY AVELAR/AFP/Getty ImagesWhen Jobs slipped the computer out of the envelope, youcould hear the gasps in the room. You knew most people inthe audience that day were thinking, “Holy shit. That’s thin!”ABC News declared, “The MacBook Air has the potential toreshape the laptop industry. The laptop fits inside a standardoffice manila envelope, which is how Jobs presented it as theshowstopper of this year’s conference of all things Apple.” 2 The“showstopper” had been planned all along. Well before Jobsenacted the stunt in front of an audience, press releases hadbeen written, images created for the website, and ads developedshowing a hand pulling the notebook from a manila envelope.The “holy shit” moment had been scripted to elicit an emotionalresponse; the presentation as theater.Raising a Product Launchto an Art FormOn January 24, 2009, Macintosh celebrated its twenty-fifthanniversary. Apple’s Macintosh had reinvented the personal

REVEAL A “HOLY SHIT” MOMENT 153computer industry in the eighties. A computer with a mouseand graphical user interface was a major transformation fromthe old command-line interfaces prevalent then. The Macwas much easier to use than anything IBM had at the time.The Mac’s introduction was also one of the most spellbindingproduct launches of its day. The unveiling took place a quartercenturyearlier during the Apple shareholders meeting, held atthe Flint Center at De Anza College, near the Apple campus. All2,571 seats were filled as employees, analysts, shareholders, andmedia representatives buzzed with anticipation.Jobs (dressed in gray slacks, a double-breasted jacket, andbow tie) kicked off the presentation with a quote by his favoritemusician, Bob Dylan. After describing the features of thenew computer, Jobs said, “All of this power fits into a box thatis one-third the size and weight of an IBM PC. You’ve just seenpictures of Macintosh. Now I’d like to show you Macintoshin person. All of the images you are about to see on the largescreen are being generated by what’s in that bag.” He pointed toa canvas bag in the center of the stage. After a pause, he walkedto center stage and pulled the Macintosh computer out of thebag. He plugged it in, inserted a floppy disk, and stood aside.The lights darkened, the Vangelis theme from Chariots of Firebegan to play, and a series of images scrolled across the screen(MacWrite and MacPaint, which came free with the Mac). As themusic faded, Jobs said, “Now, we’ve done a lot of talking aboutMacintosh recently, but today for the first time ever, I’d like tolet Macintosh speak for itself.” On that cue, Macintosh spoke ina digitized voice:“Hello, I am Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that bag.Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I’d like to share withyou a maxim I thought of the first time I met an IBM mainframe:Never trust a computer you can’t lift. Obviously, I cantalk right now, but I’d like to sit back and listen. So, it is withconsiderable pride that I introduce a man who has been like afather to me: Steve Jobs.” 3 The crowd went wild, standing, cheering,hollering.Letting Macintosh speak for itself was a brilliant technique togarner the most buzz and publicity. Twenty-five years later, the

154 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEYouTube video clip from that portion of the announcement hasbeen viewed half a million times. Jobs had created a memorablemoment that people would talk about for decades. A genuineshowstopper.One ThemeThe secret to creating a memorable moment is to identify theone thing—the one theme—that you want your audience toremember after leaving the room. Your listeners should not needto review notes, slides, or transcripts of the presentation to recallthe one thing. They will forget many of the details, but they willremember 100 percent of what they feel. Think about the onething Apple wanted you to know about MacBook Air: it’s theworld’s thinnest notebook. That’s it. A customer could learnmore by visiting the website or an Apple store; the presentationwas meant to create an experience and to bring the headline tolife. It struck an emotional connection with the listener.Jobs had one key message that he wanted to deliver about thefirst iPod: it fits one thousand songs in your pocket. The messageThe Mental Post-it Note”The brain doesn’t pay attention to boring things,” writesscientist John Medina. It does pay attention to an “emotionallycharged event,” as Medina explains: “The amygdala is chockfullof the neurotransmitter dopamine . . . When the braindetects an emotionally charged event, the amygdala releasesdopamine into the system. Because dopamine greatly aidsmemory and information processing, you could say the Post-itnote reads ‘Remember this!’ ” 4According to Medina, if you can get the brain to put whatamounts to a chemical Post-it note on an idea or a piece ofinformation, the item will be more “robustly processed” andeasily remembered. As you could imagine, this concept appliesto business professionals as well as teachers and parents!

REVEAL A “HOLY SHIT” MOMENT 155was simple and consistent in presentations, press releases, andthe Apple website. However, it remained a tagline until Jobsbrought it to life in October 2001.Just as a playwright sets the stage early and reveals the plotover time, Jobs never gives away the big moment right out of thegate. He builds the drama. Jobs took the stage to introduce theiPod and, slowly, added layers to the message until he hit the bignote.“The biggest thing about iPod is that it holds a thousandsongs,” Jobs said.“To have your whole music library with you at all times isa quantum leap in listening to music.” (A device that carried athousand songs wasn’t unique at the time; what came next wasthe big news.) “But the coolest thing about iPod is your entiremusic library fits in your pocket. It’s ultraportable. iPod is thesize of a deck of cards.” Jobs’s slide showed a photograph of acard deck. “It is 2.4 inches wide. It is four inches tall. And barelythree-quarters of an inch thick. This is tiny. It also only weighs6.5 ounces, lighter than most of the cell phones you have inyour pockets right now. This is what’s so remarkable about iPod.It is ultraportable. This is what it looks like.” Jobs showed aseries of photographs. He still hadn’t shown the actual device.“In fact, I happen to have one right here in my pocket!” Jobsthen took a device out of his pocket and held it up high, as theaudience cheered. He had his photo opp. He concluded, “Thisamazing little device holds a thousand songs and goes right inmy pocket.” 5The headline in the New York Times read: “1,000 Songs inYour Pocket.” Jobs could not have written a better headline.Actually, he did write it! He also created an emotionally chargedevent that planted the headline into the dopamine-dumpingfrontal cortex of his listeners’ brains.Dropping a Welcome BombshellJobs returned to Apple as the interim CEO in 1997. He droppedthe “interim” from his title two and half years later. Instead of

156 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEDeliver Memorable StoriesA memorable moment need not be a major new productannouncement. (After all, few of us will announce breakthroughproducts like iPod.) Something as simple as a personalstory can be memorable.I once worked with a major grower of organic produce.The executives were preparing a presentation and filled itwith mind-numbing statistics to prove that organic was betterthan conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. The statisticsprovided supporting points, but there was no emotionallycharged event, until a farmer turned to me and told me thefollowing story: “Carmine, when I worked for a conventionalfarm, I would come home and my kids would want to hug me,but they couldn’t. Daddy had to take a shower first, and myclothes had to be washed and disinfected. Today I can walkright off the lettuce field and into the waiting arms of my kids,because there is nothing toxic on my body to harm them.”Several years later, I cannot recall any of the statistics this companypresented, but I remember the story. The story becamethe emotionally charged highlight of the presentation.simply announcing that news via a press release as most CEOswould do, Jobs created an experience out of it.At the end of two-hour presentation on January 5, 2000, Jobssaid, almost as an aside, “There is one more thing.” But he didnot break the news immediately. He built the anticipation. Jobsfirst acknowledged the people at Apple who had been workingon the Internet strategy he had just described in the presentation,asking them to stand for applause. He publicly thanked hisgraphics and advertising agencies as well. Then he dropped thenews.“Everyone at Apple has been working extra hard these twoand a half years. And during this time, I’ve been the interimCEO. I have another job at Pixar as the CEO, which I love. I

REVEAL A “HOLY SHIT” MOMENT 157hope that after two and a half years, we’ve been able to prove toour shareholders at Pixar that maybe we can pull this interimCEO thing off. So, I’m not changing any of my duties at eitherPixar or Apple, but I’m pleased to announce today that I’m droppingthe ‘interim’ title.” The audience went nuts; people leapedfrom their seats, yelling, hollering, and cheering. Jobs was humbledand made it clear that he did not deserve all the credit forApple’s resurgence. “You’re making me feel funny, because I getto come to work every day and work with the most talented peopleon the planet. I accept your thanks on the part of everyoneat Apple,” Jobs concluded. 6Revolutionary Product ThatChanges EverythingTwenty-six minutes into his Macworld 2007 keynote presentation,Jobs had just finished a discussion of Apple TV. He took aswig of water and slowly walked to the center of the stage, notsaying a word for twelve seconds. He then told a story that wouldlead to one of the greatest product announcements in corporatehistory. We’ve discussed several elements of this presentation,including Jobs’s use of headlines and the rule of three. For thisdiscussion, let’s examine a longer section of the segment. As youcan see from the excerpt in Table 13.1, Jobs took his time toreveal the news that would rattle the industry and change theway millions of people access the Internet on the go. 7Once the laughter subsided, Jobs spent the rest of the presentationexplaining the current limitations of existing smartphones,unveiling the actual iPhone, and reviewing its key features.Anyone who saw the entire presentation will most likely tell youthat the three-minute introduction described in the table wasthe most memorable part of the entire keynote.Take note of how Jobs heightened anticipation to create theexperience. He could easily have said: “The next product wewould like to introduce is called iPhone. It’s Apple’s first entryinto the smartphone market. Here’s what it looks like. Now let

158 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCETABLE 13.1 EXCERPT FROM JOBS’S MACWORLD2007 PRESENTATIONSTEVE’S WORDS“This is a day I’ve been lookingforward to for two and a halfyears. Every once in a while, arevolutionary product comesalong that changes everything.One is very fortunate if you getto work on just one of thesein your career. Apple has beenvery fortunate. It’s been able tointroduce a few of these intothe world.”“In 1984, we introduced theMacintosh. It didn’t just changeApple; it changed the wholecomputer industry.”“In 2001, we introduced the firstiPod. It didn’t just change the waywe all listen to music; it changedthe entire music industry.”“Well, today we are introducingthree revolutionary products of thisclass.”“The first one is a wide-screen iPodwith touch controls.”“The second is a revolutionarymobile phone.”“And the third is a breakthroughInternet communications device.”STEVE’S SLIDESImage of Apple logoFull-screen photo of Macintosh; thedate “1984” appears at the upperleft next to the imageFull-screen photo of the originaliPod; the date “2001” appears at theupper leftBack to image of Apple logoOnly image on slide is an artisticrendering of iPod; words beneaththe image: “Widescreen iPod withtouch controls”Single artistic rendering of a phone,with the words “Revolutionarymobile phone”Single rendering of a compass, withthe words “Breakthrough Internetcommunicator”

REVEAL A “HOLY SHIT” MOMENT 159STEVE’S WORDS“So, three things: a wide-screeniPod with touch controls, arevolutionary mobile phone,and a breakthrough Internetcommunications device.”“An iPod, a phone, and an Internetcommunicator. An iPod, a phone—are you getting it? These are notthree separate devices.”“This is one device, and we arecalling it iPhone.”“Today Apple is going to reinventthe phone!”“And here it is.” [laughter]STEVE’S SLIDESThe three images appear on thesame slide, with the words “iPod,Phone, Internet”Three images rotateText only, centered on slide:“iPhone”Text only: “Apple reinvents thephone”A gag image appears: it’s a photo ofiPod, but instead of a scroll wheel,an artist had put an old-fashionedrotary dial on the MP3 playerme tell you more about it.” Not very memorable, is it? By contrast,the actual introduction whetted the audience’s appetitewith every sentence. After Jobs outlined the revolutionary productsof the past, a listener could be thinking, “I wonder whatthis third revolutionary product will be. Oh, I see: Jobs is goingto announce three new products of this class. Cool. Wait. Is itthree? Oh my gosh, he’s talking about one product! All of thosefeatures in one product. This I’ve got to see!”Every Steve Jobs presentation—major product announcementsand minor ones—is scripted to have one moment thatwill leave everyone talking. The product takes center stage,but Jobs plays the role of director. Jobs is the Steven Spielbergof corporate presentations. What do you remember most fromSpielberg’s movies? Spielberg always has one scene that sticks inyour memory for years: Indiana Jones pulling a pistol to kill the

160 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEswordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the opening scene of Jaws,or E.T. asking to phone home. In the same way, Jobs creates onemoment that will define the experience.Jobs has changed many things about his presentation styleover the past thirty years, including his wardrobe, slides, andstyle. Through it all, one thing has remained consistent—hislove of drama.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Plan a “holy shit” moment. It need not be a breakthroughannouncement. Something as simple as tellinga personal story, revealing some new and unexpectedinformation, or delivering a demonstration can helpcreate a memorable moment for your audience. Moviedirectors such as Steven Spielberg look for those emotionsthat uplift people, make them laugh, or make themthink. People crave beautiful, memorable moments.Build them into your presentation. The more unexpected,the better.» Script the moment. Build up to the big moment beforelaying it on your audience. Just as a great novel doesn’tgive away the entire plot on the first page, the dramashould build in your presentation. Did you see the movieThe Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis? The key scene was at theend of the movie—one twist that the majority of viewersdidn’t see coming. Think about ways to add the elementof surprise to your presentations. Create at least onememorable moment that will amaze your audience andhave them talking well after your presentation is over.» Rehearse the big moment. Do not make the mistake ofcreating a memorable experience and having it bombbecause you failed to practice. It must come off crisp,polished, and effortless. Make sure demos work andslides appear when they’re supposed to.

NTE R M ISSION 2INTERMISSION 2ISchiller Learnsfrom the BestPhil Schiller had some mighty big shoes to fill on January6, 2009. Schiller, Apple’s vice president of worldwideproduct marketing, replaced Steve Jobs as the keynotepresenter at Macworld. (Apple had earlier announcedthat this would be the company’s last year of participation inthe event.) Schiller had the unfortunate role of being comparedwith his boss, who had more than thirty years of experienceon the big stage. Schiller was smart, however, and delivered aproduct launch that contained the best elements of a typicalSteve Jobs presentation. Following are seven of Schiller’s techniquesthat Jobs himself would surely have used had he giventhe keynote: 1» Create Twitter-like headlines. Schiller set the theme of theday right up front. “Today is all about the Mac,” he told theaudience. This opening is reminiscent of how Jobs opened thetwo preceding Macworld shows. Jobs told the 2008 audiencethat something was in the air, foreshadowing the MacBook Airannouncement, and in 2007, Jobs said that Apple was going tomake history that day. It sure did when Jobs later introducedthe iPhone.» Draw a road map. Schiller verbally outlined a simple agendaat the beginning of his presentation and provided verbalreminders along the way. Just as Jobs uses the rule of threeto describe products, Schiller also introduced the presentationas three separate categories. “I have three new things totell you about today,” he said (accompanying slide read: “3New Things”). The first was a new version of iLife. The second161

162 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCEproduct he discussed was a new version of iWork. Finally,the third was a new MacBook seventeen-inch Pro notebookcomputer.» Dress up numbers. As his boss does, Schiller added meaningto numbers. He told the audience that 3.4 million customersvisit an Apple store every week. To give his audience a relevantperspective, Schiller said, “That’s one hundred Macworlds eachand every week.”» Stage the presentation with props. Demonstrations play aprominent role in every Steve Jobs presentation. Schiller alsoused the technique smoothly and effectively. As Jobs likelywould have done had he given the presentation, Schiller satdown at a computer on the stage and demonstrated severalnew features that come standard in ’09 versions of iLife andiWork. My favorite demo was the new Keynote ’09, whichcomes closer than ever to letting everyday users create Jobslikeslides without an expertise in graphic design.» Share the stage. Schiller did not hog the spotlight. He sharedthe stage with employees who had more experience in areasthat were relevant to the new products he introduced. For ademo of iMovie ’09, a new version of the video-editing software,Schiller deferred to an Apple engineer who actuallycreated the tool. When Schiller revealed the new seventeeninchMacBook Pro, he said the battery was the most innovativefeature of the notebook computer. To explain further, Schillershowed a video that featured three Apple employees describinghow they were able to build a battery that lasted eighthours on a single charge without adding to the notebook’ssize, weight, or price.» Create visual slides. There are very few words on a Steve Jobsslide, and there were few on Schiller’s slides as well. The firstfew slides had no words at all, simply photographs. Schillerstarted by giving the audience a tour of some of the new Applestores that had opened around the world the past year. Therewere no bullet points on Schiller’s slides. When Schiller didpresent a list of features, he used the fewest words possibleand often paired the words with an image. You can view the

SCHILLER LEARNS FROM THE BEST 163slide set yourself by watching the actual keynote presentationon the Apple website or visiting Slideshare.net. 2» Deliver a “holy shit” moment. In true Steve Jobs fashion,Schiller surprised the audience by announcing “just one morething” to close his presentation. He applied the rule of three ashe had done earlier, but this time to iTunes. He said there werethree new things for iTunes in 2009: a change to the pricingstructure, the ability of iPhone customers to download andbuy songs on their 3G cellular network, and the fact that alliTunes songs would be DRM free (i.e., without copy protection).Schiller received a big round of applause when he announcedthat eight million songs would be DRM free “starting today”and got an even bigger round of applause when he said that allten million songs on iTunes would be DRM free by the end ofthe quarter. Schiller knew that DRM-free songs in iTunes wouldbe the big headline of the day, and he saved it for last. Theannouncement did, indeed, dominate the news coverage thatfollowed.

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ACT 3Refine andRehearseSo far, we’ve learned how Steve Jobs plans his presentations.We’ve talked about how he supports the narrativethrough his words and slides. We’ve discussed how heassembles the cast, creates demos, and wows his audiencewith one dynamic moment that leaves everyone in awe.Finally, you’ll learn how Jobs refines and rehearses his presentationto make an emotional connection with the audience. Thisfinal step is essential for anyone who wants to talk, walk, andlook like a leader. Let’s preview the scenes in this act:» SCENE 14: “Master Stage Presence.” How you say somethingis as important as what you say, if not more so. Body languageand verbal delivery account for 63 to 90 percent of the impressionyou leave on your audience, depending upon which studyyou cite. Steve Jobs’s delivery matches the power of his words.» SCENE 15: “Make It Look Effortless.” Few speakers rehearsemore than Steve Jobs. His preparation time is legendaryamong the people closest to him. Researchers have discoveredexactly how many hours of practice it takes to achieve masteryin a given skill. In this chapter, you’ll learn how Jobs confirmsthese theories and how you can apply them to improve yourown presentation skills.165

166 REFINE AND REHEARSE» SCENE 16: “Wear the Appropriate Costume.” Jobs hasthe easiest wardrobe selection in the world: it’s the same forall of his presentations. His attire is so well known that even“Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock” poked some goodnaturedfun at him. Learn why it’s OK for Jobs to dress the wayhe does but it could mean career suicide if you follow his lead.» SCENE 17: “Toss the Script.” Jobs talks to the audience, notto his slides. He makes strong eye contact because he haspracticed effectively. This chapter will teach you how to practicethe right way so you, too, can toss the script.» SCENE 18: “Have Fun.” Despite the extensive preparationthat goes into a Steve Jobs presentation, things don’t alwaysgo according to plan. Nothing rattles Jobs, because his firstgoal is to have fun!

N E 14SCENE 14SCEMaster StagePresenceI was hooked by Steve’s energy and enthusiasm.—GIL AMELIOSteve Jobs has a commanding presence. His voice, gestures,and body language communicate authority,confidence, and energy. Jobs’s enthusiasm was on fulldisplay at Macworld 2003. Table 14.1 shows his actualwords as well as the gestures he used to introduce the TitaniumPowerBook. 1 The words he verbally emphasized in his presentationare in italics.The words Jobs uses to describe a product are obviouslyimportant, but so is the style in which he delivers the words. Hepunches key words in every paragraph, adding extra emphasisto the most important words in the sentence. He makes expansivegestures to complement his vocal delivery. We’ll examinehis body language and vocal delivery more closely later in thechapter, but for now, the best way to appreciate his skill is to callon a guest speaker who pales in comparison.“Who’s Mr. Note Card?”During the iPhone introduction at Macworld 2007, Jobs invitedCingular/AT&T CEO Stan Sigman to join him onstage and toshare a few words about the partnership. Sigman took the floorand sucked the energy right out of the room. He immediately167

168 REFINE AND REHEARSETABLE 14.1 JOBS’S MACWORLD 2003 PRESENTATIONSTEVE’S WORDS“Two years ago, we introduced alandmark product for Apple. TheTitanium PowerBook instantly becamethe best notebook in the industry. Thenumber one lust object.”“Every review said so.”“And you know what? Nobody hascaught up with it in two years.”“Almost every reviewer today still saysit is the number one notebook in theindustry. No one is even close.”“This is important for Apple becausewe believe that someday notebooks areeven going to outsell desktops . . . Wewant to replace even more desktopswith notebooks.”“So, how do we do this? What’s next?Well, the Titanium PowerBook is amilestone product, and it’s not goingaway. But we’re going to step it up anotch to attract even more people froma desktop to a notebook.”“And how do we do that? We do thatwith this.”“The new seventeen-inch PowerBook. Aseventeen-inch landscape screen.”“It’s stunning.”“And when you close it, it is only oneinch thick.”“The thinnest PowerBook ever. Let mego ahead and show you one. I happento have one right here.”STEVE’S GESTURESRaises index fingerPulls hands apart, palms upHolds up two fingers on righthandChops air with left handMakes an expansive gesturewith both handsGestures, moving hand in abroad stroke from right to leftPausesAnother expansive gesture,hands pulled apart, palms upPausesMakes thin gesture with lefthandWalks to stage right whilemaintaining eye contact withaudience

MASTER STAGE PRESENCE 169STEVE’S WORDS“It is the most incredible product wehave ever made.”“The new seventeen-inch PowerBook. It’samazing. Look at that screen.”“Look at how thin it is. Isn’t it incredible?It’s beautiful, too.”“This is clearly the most advancednotebook computer ever made on theplanet. Our competitors haven’t evencaught up with what we introduced twoyears ago; I don’t know what they’regoing to do about this.”STEVE’S GESTURESPicks up computer andopens itHolds up computer to showscreenShuts computer and holdsit upSmiles and looks directly ataudienceput his hands into his pockets and proceeded to deliver his commentsin a low-key monotone. Worst of all, he pulled note cardsout of his jacket pocket and started reading from them word forword. As a result, Sigman’s delivery became more halting, andhe lost all eye contact with the audience. He continued for sixlong minutes that seemed like thirty. Observers were fidgeting,waiting for Jobs to return.A post on CNN’s international blog read: “Sigman . . . readstiffly from a script, pausing awkwardly to consult notes. Bycontrast, the silver-tongued Jobs wore his trademark black turtleneckand faded blue jeans . . . Jobs is one of the best showmenin corporate America, rarely glancing at scripts and quick withoff-the-cuff jokes.” Bloggers were relentless during Sigman’s talk.Among the comments: “Who’s Mr. Note Card?”; “Blah, blah,blah, and blah”; “Painfully bad”; and “A snoozer.”Sigman left AT&T that same year. Macworld.com wrote:“Sigman is perhaps best remembered by Apple fans as completelynegating Jobs’s Reality Distortion Field in an incident which leftalmost half of the entire keynote audience sound asleep. He hasbeen sentenced to a cruel afterlife of being the butt of roughly99 percent of Scott Bourne’s jokes [Bourne is a Mac pundit andpodcaster] . . . And what will Stan do in retirement? Word is he’s

170 REFINE AND REHEARSEthinking of giving public speaking workshops to underprivilegedyouth.” 2Sigman spent forty-two years at AT&T, rising from the lowestrungs in the company to running its wireless division. Yet, tomany people unfamiliar with his leadership, Sigman’s appearanceat Macworld will be his lasting legacy. It wasn’t Sigman’sfault. He had to follow the master. And, unfortunately, this bookwasn’t out yet to help him prepare!Three Techniques to ImproveBody LanguageSteve Jobs resigned from Apple in 1985 after losing a boardroombattle for control of the company in a power strugglewith then CEO John Sculley. He would remain away for elevenyears, returning triumphantly when Gil Amelio, Apple’s CEOin 1996, announced that Apple was going to buy Jobs’s NeXTfor $427 million. “I was hooked by Steve’s energy and enthusiasm,”Amelio wrote in On the Firing Line: My Five Hundred Days atApple. “I do remember how animated he is on his feet, how hisfull mental abilities materialize when he’s up and moving, howhe becomes more expressive.” 3Jobs comes alive when he is up and moving onstage. He hasseemingly boundless energy. When he’s at his best, Jobs doesthree things anyone can, and should, do to enhance one’s speakingand presentation skills: he makes eye contact, maintains anopen posture, and uses frequent hand gestures.EYE CONTACTGreat communicators such as Jobs make appreciably more eyecontact with the audience than average presenters. They rarelyread from slides or notes. Jobs doesn’t eliminate notes entirely.He often has some notes tucked out of view during demonstrations.Apple’s presentation software, Keynote, also makes it easyfor speakers to see speaker’s notes while the audience sees theslides displayed on the projector. If Jobs is reading, nobody can

MASTER STAGE PRESENCE 171tell. He maintains eye contact with his audience nearly all thetime. He glances at a slide and immediately turns his attentionback to where it belongs—on those watching.Most presenters spend too much time reading every word oftext on a slide. During demonstrations, mediocre presenters willbreak eye contact completely. Research has discovered that eyecontact is associated with honesty, trustworthiness, sincerity,and confidence. Avoiding eye contact is most often associatedwith a lack of confidence and leadership ability. Breaking eyecontact is a surefire way to lose your connection with youraudience.Jobs can make solid eye contact with his listeners because hepractices his presentations for weeks ahead of time (see Scene15). He knows exactly what’s on each slide and what he’s goingto say when the slide appears. The more Jobs rehearses, themore he has internalized the content, and the easier it is for himto connect with his listeners. The majority of presenters fail topractice, and it shows.The second reason why Jobs can make solid eye contact isthat his slides are highly visual. More often than not, there areno words at all on a slide—just photographs (see Scene 8 andScene 17). When there are words, they are few—sometimes justone word on a slide. Visual slides force the speaker to deliver theinformation to those whom the message is intended to reach—the audience.OPEN POSTUREJobs rarely crosses his arms or stands behind a lectern. His postureis “open.” An open posture simply means he has placednothing between himself and his audience. During demos, Jobssits parallel to the computer so nothing blocks his view of theaudience or the audience’s view of him. He performs a functionon the computer and immediately turns to the audienceto explain what he just did, rarely breaking eye contact for along stretch of time. In Jobs’s early presentations, most notablythe 1984 Macintosh introduction, he stood behind a lectern.He abandoned the lectern soon after and has never used one

172 REFINE AND REHEARSEsince (with the exception of his 2005 Stanford commencementaddress). See Figure 14.1.HAND GESTURESJobs emphasizes nearly every sentence with a gesture that complementshis words. Some old-fashioned speaking coaches stillinstruct clients to keep their hands at their sides. I’m not surewhere this started, but it’s the kiss of death for any speaker hopingto captivate an audience. Keeping your hands at your sideswill make you look stiff, formal, and, frankly, a little weird.Extraordinary communicators such as Jobs use more gesturesthan the average speaker, not fewer. There’s even research toback up this observation.Dr. David McNeill, at the University of Chicago, is known forhis exhaustive research in the area of hand gestures. He’s made ithis passion since 1980. His research has shown that gestures andlanguage are intimately connected. In fact, the use of gesturescan help presenters speak better by clearing up their thoughtprocess. Yes, he says, it actually takes concentrated effort not toFigure 14.1 Steve Jobs engages his audience with strong eye contact,hand gestures, and an open posture.JOHN G. MABANGLO/AFP/Getty Images

MASTER STAGE PRESENCE 173use gestures. McNeill has found that very disciplined, rigorous,and confident thinkers use hand gestures that reflect the clarityof their thinking—it’s like a window to their thought process.Use hand gestures to emphasize your point. Be careful,however, that your hand gestures do not become robotic oroverrehearsed. In other words, don’t copy Jobs and his mannerisms.Be yourself. Be authentic.Say It with StyleSteve Jobs uses his voice as effectively as his gestures. His content,slides, and demos create excitement, but his deliveryties the package together. When he introduced the iPhone inJanuary 2007, he told a magnificently woven story, and hisvocal expression provided just the right amount of drama. Wereviewed the announcement and its slides in previous chapters.Now let’s focus on how Jobs said what he said. It is a packageIs That a CEO or a Preacher?Few among us have the public-speaking confidence to rivalCisco CEO John Chambers. People are often shocked the firsttime they watch him give a presentation. Like a preacher,Chambers roams among the audience. He spends only aminute or two onstage at the beginning of his presentationbefore stepping into the crowd. Chambers walks right up topeople, looks them in the eye, calls some by name, even placeshis hand on someone’s shoulder. Very few people have theconfidence to pull this off.I know as a fact that Chambers’s confidence is the result ofhours of relentless practice. He knows every word on each ofhis slides, and he knows exactly what he’s going to say next.Observers have said watching a Chambers presentation is an“astonishing” experience. Be astonishing. Rehearse your presentation,and pay close attention to your body language andverbal delivery.

174 REFINE AND REHEARSEdeal, after all. Great slides mean little without a great delivery. Agreat story will fall flat if delivered poorly.Table 14.2 illustrates Jobs’s vocal delivery. It’s from the sameiPhone presentation featured in Scene 13, with a focus on hisactual delivery. The words Jobs chose to emphasize are italicizedin the first column; the second column lists notes on his delivery,including the moments when he pauses right after a phraseor sentence. 4 Pay particular attention to pacing, pausing, andvolume.Jobs varied his delivery to create suspense, enthusiasm, andexcitement. Nothing will do more to destroy all of the work youput into crafting a spectacular presentation than to deliver it ina boring monotone, which Jobs most certainly does not.Jobs’s voice complemented the drama of the plot. He usessimilar devices in every presentation. This section details fourrelated techniques that Jobs uses to keep his listeners engaged:inflection, pauses, volume, and rate.INFLECTIONJobs changes his inflection by raising or lowering the pitch ofhis voice. Think about how flat the iPhone launch would havesounded if all of his words had been delivered with exactly thesame tone. Instead, Jobs raised his pitch when he said, “Are yougetting it?” and “This is one device.” Jobs has some favoritedescriptors that find their way into many of his presentations:unbelievable, awesome, cool, and huge. These words would notcarry the same impact if the tone in which they are deliveredsounds exactly like the rest of the sentence. Jobs modifies histone frequently, keeping his listeners on the edge of their seats.PAUSESNothing is more dramatic than a well-placed pause. “Today we’reintroducing a third kind of notebook,” Jobs told the Macworldaudience in January 2008. Then he paused a few beats beforesaying, “It’s called the MacBook Air.” He paused again before thedelivering the headline: “It’s the world’s thinnest notebook.” 5Jobs does not rush his presentation. He lets it breathe. Hewill often remain quiet for several seconds as he lets a key point

MASTER STAGE PRESENCE 175TABLE 14.2 JOBS’S 2007 iPHONE PRESENTATIONSTEVE’S WORDS“This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for twoand a half years.”“Every once in a while, a revolutionary productcomes along that changes everything.”“Apple has been very fortunate. It’s been able tointroduce a few of these into the world. In 1984,we introduced Macintosh. It didn’t just changeApple; it changed the whole computer industry.”“In 2001, we introduced the first iPod.”“It didn’t just change the way we all listen tomusic; it changed the entire music industry.”“Well, today we’re introducing three revolutionaryproducts of this class. The first one”“is a wide-screen iPod with touch controls. Thesecond”“is a revolutionary mobile phone.”“And the third”“is a breakthrough Internet communicationsdevice. So, three things: a wide-screen iPod withtouch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone,and a breakthrough Internet communicationsdevice.”“An iPod, a phone, and an Internet communciator.”“An iPod, a phone—are you getting it?”“These are not three separate devices. This is onedevice,”“and we are calling it iPhone.”“Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone!”STEVE’S DELIVERYPausePausePausePausePausePausePauseVoice grows louderPausePauseVoice grows louderSpeaks faster, voicegrows louderVoice grows louderstillVoice gets even louderLoudest volume ofthe presentation

176 REFINE AND REHEARSEsink in. Most presenters sound as though they are trying to rushthrough the material. In many ways, they are, because theyscripted more material than the time allows. Jobs never hurries.His presentation is carefully rehearsed to give him plenty oftime to slow down, pause, and let his message take hold.VOLUMEJobs will lower and raise his voice to add drama. He typically doesthis when introducing a hot new product. He often lowers his voiceas he builds up to the announcement and then raises his volume tohit the big note. He’ll do the opposite as well. When he introducedthe first iPod, he raised his voice and said, “To have your wholemusic library with you at all times is a quantum leap in listeningto music.” He then lowered his voice and delivered the knockout:“But the coolest thing about iPod is your entire music library fitsin your pocket.” 6 Just as inflections and pauses keep your audienceriveted to your every word, so does the volume of your voice.RATEJobs speeds up the delivery of some sentences and slows down forothers. Demonstrations are typically delivered at his normal rateof speech, but he slows down considerably when he delivers theheadline or key message that he wants everyone to remember.When Jobs introduced the iPod for the first time, he lowered hisvoice nearly to a whisper to emphasize the key takeaway. He alsoslowed the tempo of his sentences to build the drama. Table 14.3offers highlights. 7Act Like the Leader You Want to BeDo not make the mistake of believing body language and vocaldelivery are unimportant, “soft skills.” UCLA research scientistAlbert Mehrabian studied expression and communicationfor his book Silent Messages. 8 He discovered that nonverbal cuescarry the most impact in a conversation. Tone of voice—vocalexpression—was the second most influential factor. The third,and least important, were the actual words spoken.

MASTER STAGE PRESENCE 177TABLE 14.3 EXCERPT FROM JOBS INTRODUCING THE iPOD, WITHDELIVERY NOTESSTEVE’S WORDS”Now, you might be saying, ‘This is cool, butI’ve got a hard disk in my portable computer,my iBook. I’m running iTunes. I’m reallyhappy. I don’t get ten hours of battery lifeon my iBook, but iBook has better batterylife than any other consumer portable.’ ”STEVE’S DELIVERYSlows down rate of speech“ ‘So, what’s so special about iPod here?’ ” Pauses and lowers volume“It’s ultraportable. An iBook is portable, butthis is ultraportable. Let me show you whatI mean.”“iPod is the size of a deck of cards. It is 2.4inches wide. It is four inches tall. And barelythree-quarters of an inch thick. This istiny. It also only weighs 6.5 ounces, lighterthan most of the cell phones you have inyour pockets right now. This is what’s soremarkable about iPod.”“It is ultraportable.”Speeds up rate of speechSlows down and lowersvoiceAlmost at a whisperTo a large extent, how Steve Jobs speaks and carries himselfleaves his audience with a sense of awe and confidence in himas a leader. U.S. president Barack Obama once said the mostvaluable lesson he learned as he worked himself up from a communityorganizer to the most powerful person on the planetwas to “always act confident.”People are making judgments about you all the time, butespecially in the first ninety seconds of meeting you. How youdeliver your words and what your body language says about youwill leave your listeners disillusioned or inspired. Steve Jobs isan electrifying communicator because he is expressive in bothvoice and gesture.

178 REFINE AND REHEARSEBueller? Bueller?Ben Stein provides us with one of the best examples of ahorribly dull, monotone vocal delivery. In the 1986 movieFerris Bueller’s Day Off, Ben Stein played a boring economicsteacher. Stein’s most famous line in the movie occurred whenhe was taking attendance and Bueller (the Matthew Broderickcharacter) was nowhere to be found. In the driest monotoneon film, Stein asked, “Bueller . . . ? Bueller . . . ? Bueller . . . ?” asthe camera flashed to an empty chair. In another scene, Steindiscussed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act and voodoo economics.The looks on the students’ faces are hilarious. One kid hashis head on the desk as drool is coming out of the side of hismouth. Stein’s character is so boring, it’s funny.If Stein were to read a transcript of a Steve Jobs presentationin the same manner in which he played the teacher, itwould surely be one of the longest, dullest presentations inthe history of corporate America. This proves once again thatwords matter, but an effective delivery makes the difference.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Pay attention to your body language. Maintain eyecontact, have an open posture, and use hand gestureswhen appropriate. Don’t be afraid of using your hands.Research has shown that gestures reflect complex thinkingand give the listener confidence in the speaker.» Vary your vocal delivery by adding inflection to yourvoice, raising or lowering your volume, as well as speedingup and slowing down. Also, let your content breathe.Pause. Nothing is as dramatic as a well-placed pause.» Record yourself. Watch your body language, and listento your vocal delivery. Watching yourself on video is thebest way to improve your presentation skills.

N E 15SCENE 15SCEMake It LookEffortlessPractice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good.It’s the thing you do that makes you good.—MALCOLM GLADWELLSteve Jobs is a master showman, working the stage withprecision. Every move, demo, image, and slide is insync. He appears comfortable, confident, and remarkablyeffortless. At least, it looks effortless to the audience.Here’s his presentation secret: Jobs rehearses for hours. To bemore precise: many, many hours over many, many days.“Jobs unveils Apple’s latest products as if he were a particularlyhip and plugged-in friend showing off inventions in yourliving room. Truth is, the sense of informality comes only aftergrueling hours of practice,” observed a BusinessWeek reporter.“One retail executive recalls going to a Macworld rehearsal atJobs’s behest and then waiting four hours before Jobs came offthe stage to conduct an interview. Jobs considers his keynotesa competitive weapon. Marissa Mayer, a Google executive whoplays a central role in launching the search giant’s innovations,insists that up-and-coming product marketers attend Jobs’s keynotes.‘Steve Jobs is the best at launching new products,’ shesays. ‘They have to see how he does it.’ ” 1How does he do it? The BusinessWeek reporter provided theanswer in the article: Steve Jobs puts in hours of grueling practice.When was the last time you could say that you devoted hours179

180 REFINE AND REHEARSEof grueling practice to prepare for a presentation? The honestanswer is probably “never.” If you really want to talk the wayJobs does, plan on spending more time rehearsing every portionof your presentation.Glimpse Behind the Magic CurtainIn an article published in the Guardian on January 5, 2006, formerApple employee Mike Evangelist wrote about his personalexperience rehearsing a portion of a demonstration for a Jobskeynote: “To a casual observer these presentations appear to bejust a guy in a black shirt and blue jeans talking about some newtechnology products. But they are in fact an incredibly complexand sophisticated blend of sales pitch, product demonstration,and corporate cheerleading, with a dash of religious revivalthrown in for good measure. They represent weeks of work, preciseorchestration, and intense pressure for scores of people whocollectively make up the ‘man behind the curtain.’ ” 2According to Evangelist’s first-person account, Jobs beginshis preparation weeks in advance, reviewing products and technologieshe is going to talk about. Evangelist had been tappedto demo the new iDVD, Apple’s DVD-burning software, forMacworld 2001. Evangelist said his team spent hundreds ofhours preparing for a segment that lasted five minutes. That’snot a typo: hundreds of hours for a five-minute demo.Evangelist said Jobs rehearsed for two full days before thepresentation, asking for feedback from the product managers inthe room. Jobs spends a lot of time on slides, personally writingand designing much of the content, along with some help fromthe design team. “On the day before show time, things get muchmore structured, with at least one and sometimes two completedress rehearsals. Throughout it all Steve is extremely focused.While we were in that room, all his energy was directed at makingthis keynote the perfect embodiment of Apple’s messages.” 3In the weeks before the keynote, Evangelist saw the full rangeof Steve’s emotions from disappointment to elation. “I believe it

MAKE IT LOOK EFFORTLESS 181is one of the most important aspects of Steve Jobs’s impact onApple: he has little or no patience for anything but excellencefrom himself or others,” Evangelist concluded. 4In October 1999, Time magazine reporter Michael Krantz wasinterviewing Jobs one day before the introduction of a line ofmulticolored iMacs. Jobs was rehearsing the big moment whenhe would announce, “Say hello to the new iMacs.” The computerswere then supposed to glide out from behind a dark curtain,but according to Krantz, Jobs was unhappy with the lighting. Hewanted the lights to be brighter and to come up sooner. “Let’skeep doing it till we get it right, OK?” said Jobs. 5 The show’slighting folks practiced again and again as Jobs grew increasinglyfrustrated.“Finally,” Krantz reports, “they get it right, the five impeccablylighted iMacs gleaming as they glide forward smoothlyon the giant screen. ‘Oh! Right there! That’s great!’ Jobs yells,elated at the very notion of a universe capable of producingthese insanely beautiful machines. ‘That’s perfect!’ he bellows,his voice booming across the empty auditorium. ‘Wooh!’ Andyou know what? He’s right. The iMacs do look better when thelights come on earlier.” 6 The scene that Krantz described couldbe interpreted in one of two ways: either Jobs is a micromanageror, as one of Jobs’s friends observed in the article, “he issingle-minded, almost manic, in his pursuit of quality andexcellence.”What Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, andWinston Churchill Have in CommonPsychology professor Dr. K. Anders Ericsson has studied top athletessuch as Michael Jordan as well as superachievers in otherwalks of life: chess players, golfers, doctors, even dart throwers!Ericsson discovered that star performers refine their skillsthrough deliberative practice. In other words, they do not justdo the same thing over and over, hoping to get better. Instead,

182 REFINE AND REHEARSEthey set specific goals, ask for feedback, and continually striveto improve over the long run. From Ericsson’s research, we havelearned that star performers practice specific skills again andagain over many, many years.Ordinary speakers become extraordinary because they practice.Winston Churchill was one of the foremost communicatorsof the twentieth century. He was a master of persuasion, influence,and motivation. Churchill, too, deliberately practiced theskills required to inspire millions of British during the darkestdays of World War II. “He would prepare in the days before a bigparliamentary speech, practicing quips or parries against anynumber of possible interjections. Churchill practiced so thoroughlythat he seemed to be speaking extemporaneously . . . heheld his audience spellbound,” wrote Churchill’s granddaughterCelia Sandys and coauthor Jonathan Littman in We Shall NotFail. “The lesson is simple but requires lots of hard work. Practiceis essential, particularly if you want to sound spontaneous.” 7 Theworld’s greatest communicators have always known that “spontaneity”is the result of planned practice.You can speak the way Jobs does, but it takes practice. Jobsmakes an elaborate presentation look easy because he puts inthe time. In The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, Paul Vais, a NeXTexecutive, was quoted as saying, “Every slide was written likea piece of poetry. We spent hours on what most people wouldconsider low-level detail. Steve would labor over the presentation.We’d try to orchestrate and choreograph everything andmake it more alive than it really is.” 8 Making your presentation“more alive” takes practice. Once you accept this simple principle,your presentations will stand out in a sea of mediocrity.Ten Thousand Hours to MasteryThere are no “naturals.” Steve Jobs is an extraordinary presenterbecause he works at it. According to Malcolm Gladwellin Outliers, “Research suggests that once a musician has enoughability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishesone performer from another is how hard he or she works.

MAKE IT LOOK EFFORTLESS 183That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t workjust harder or even much harder than everyone else. They workmuch, much harder.” 9 Although the observation Gladwell makesin Outliers applies specifically to musicians, the vast amount ofresearch on the subject of peak performance shows that practiceis the common thread among all individuals who excel at a particulartask. Neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin believesthat the magic number is ten thousand.“The emerging picture of such studies is that ten thousandhours of practice is required to achieve the level of masteryassociated with being a world-class expert—in anything . . . Instudy after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers,ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals,and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ofcourse, this doesn’t address why some people don’t seem to getanywhere when they practice, and why some people seem to getmore out of their practice sessions than others, but no one hasyet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplishedin less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long toassimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.” 10The ten-thousand-hours theory is consistent with what weknow about how the brain learns, according to Levitin andGladwell. They say that learning requires consolidation in neuraltissue; the more experiences we have with a particular action,the stronger those connections become.Now let’s do the math. Ten thousand hours is equivalent toroughly three hours a day, or twenty hours a week, over a periodof ten years. To substantiate this theory, Gladwell tells the storyof the Beatles, who performed together in Hamburg over a longperiod before they hit it big. According to Gladwell, before theBeatles enjoyed their first success in 1964, they had performedlive together some twelve hundred times, sometimes for eighthours at a stretch. This is an extraordinary feat, because mostgroups don’t perform that often in their entire careers. Theband members became better and more confident the longerthey played together. “Incidentally,” writes Gladwell, “the timethat elapsed between their founding and their arguably greatest

184 REFINE AND REHEARSEartistic achievements—Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band andThe Beatles [White Album]—is ten years.” 11With the ten-thousand-hours theory in mind, let’s turn ourattention once again to Jobs. Although Apple was founded in1976, Jobs and friend-cofounder Steve Wozniak started attendingmeetings of the Homebrew Computer Club in 1974. Homebrewwas an early computer-hobbyist club in Silicon Valley, California.It was at Homebrew that Jobs began tinkering and talking abouthow computers could change the world. Exactly ten years later,Jobs gave an outstanding presentation—the introduction of theMacintosh in 1984. Most people who saw that presentation considerit to be a magnificent achievement, packed with suspense,drama, and excitement. But remarkably, Jobs continued to practice,refine, and improve his presentation style.A decade later, in 1997, Jobs had returned to Apple and wasonstage at Boston’s Macworld to discuss the steps he had taken torestore Apple to health. Everything about his performance thatday was more polished and natural than it had been in previousyears. He had lost the lectern, walking comfortably across thestage, and had started creating more visually engaging slides.Flash forward another ten years to Macworld 2007, which,in my opinion, is Jobs’s greatest presentation to date if you takeinto account every element of the keynote from start to finish.He hits home runs in every presentation, but he hit a basesloadedhomer in 2007. Everything clicked. Several sections ofthe presentation have been discussed throughout this book. Theoverall presentation was smooth and polished, with dramatichighs and lows, confident body language, captivating verbaldelivery, and gorgeous slides. The iPhone announcement hadeven overshadowed every product at the vastly larger ConsumerElectronics Show, held the same week in Las Vegas.The chief misconception about Jobs is that he is a naturalpresenter, that he was born with the charisma that he exhibitsonstage. Not true. As research has shown, nobody is a natural.You can achieve the same level of proficiency of the world’sgreatest communicators if you work at it much, much harderthan everyone else.

MAKE IT LOOK EFFORTLESS 185Flushing Away $25,000I once saw the executive of a major publicly traded companygive a keynote presentation to a large audience of customers,press, and analysts. I later learned that the company had spentupwards of $25,000 for professional designers to create slick,animated slides. That figure did not account for the lighting,audio, and venue. The most creative slides will fail to impressyour audience unless you practice your delivery; this guydid not practice, and it showed. Since he had not practicedcoordinating his words to the animation, the slides were off,and he lost his place numerous times. He stumbled throughmost of the presentation and at one point threw up his handsin exasperation! If you spend money and time on a presentation—andtime is money—you owe it to yourself to practice,practice, and practice some more!Make Video Your Best FriendNearly every year, I’m asked to work with CEOs who give majorpresentations at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Theconference is usually scheduled for the first full week in January,which means we’re rehearsing over the holidays, often while therest of the company’s employees are off. Regardless, CEOs willshow up for practice, because they know how important it is.In one particular year, after several days of rehearsals, oneof my CEO clients took the stage in Vegas but had troublewith the slides. The clicker had failed, and the slides were notadvancing. Most amateur speakers who don’t spend enoughtime practicing would have frozen, calling even more attentionto the problem. Not this guy. He was so well prepared thathe casually motioned to an assistant to advance the slides forhim (we rehearse contingency plans). He didn’t miss a step andkept talking. It didn’t end there: something was wrong with thecomputer; it had locked and would have to be rebooted for the

186 REFINE AND REHEARSEslide show to continue. The assistant simply shook his head,but the CEO stayed the course. He continued to deliver the restof the presentation with no slides. He did so effortlessly andconfidently.He later told me that without practice (which I had urgedhim to do), he would have lost his confidence and flounderedin front of employees, analysts, investors, customers, and themedia. When I asked employees after the presentation whatthey had thought, none of them realized that anything hadgone wrong.VIDEO TRAINING TIPSWe had used a video camera during rehearsals. Very few presenterswatch themselves on camera, even though perfectlyappropriate camcorders are available for less than $300. I knowthat watching yourself on TV, especially a wide-screen, is notthe most pleasant experience, but take my word for it: it’s essential.Record your presentation and play it back. If possible, findobjective friends and colleagues who will offer honest feedback.Use an external, clip-on microphone instead of the built-inmicrophone standard on all camcorders. Your voice will soundlouder, clearer, and more resonant.As you watch the video, pay close attention to these fiveareas:» Eye contact. Commit most of your presentation to memory toavoid reading from notes. Your slides should act as your cue.Public-speaking expert Andrew Carnegie observed that notesdestroy the intimacy between speaker and audience and makethe speaker appear less powerful and confident. Notice that Ididn’t tell you to give the presentation “completely” withoutnotes. Steve Jobs keeps notes out of his audience’s sight. Only acareful observer would spot him glancing at them. He refers tonotes during demonstrations, but since the audience’s attentionis on the demo itself, his notes do not detract from thepresentation. The notes he does keep onstage are also unobtrusiveand simple. He just needs to glance at them to find hisplace. Although it’s easier in Keynote than PowerPoint to have

MAKE IT LOOK EFFORTLESS 187a notes page for the speaker’s view, you should still strive todeliver most of your presentation with no notes at all.» Body language. Is your body language strong, confident, andcommanding? Are your arms crossed or open? Are you keepingyour hands in your pockets instead of keeping an openposture? Do you fidget, rock, or have other distracting habits?Are your gestures natural and purposeful or stiff and wooden?Remember that body language and verbal delivery account forthe majority of the impression you leave on your listeners. Yourbody language should reflect the confidence of your words.» Filler words. Are you constantly using “um,” “ah,” and“you know” to fill the space between thoughts? Just as textshouldn’t fill every inch of your slide, your words shouldn’t fillevery pause between sentences. Reviewing your performanceis the best way to eliminate these often distracting fillers. Onceyou catch yourself a few times, you will be more aware of thehabit next time. Awareness is more than 90 percent of thesolution!» Vocal delivery. Vary the volume and inflection of your voiceto keep the attention of your audience riveted on your words.Raise and lower your volume at different points in your presentation.Change your cadence. Varying the speed at whichyou talk will keep your presentation from sounding monotone.Speed up at certain points and then slow down. Pause forimpact. Again, nothing is as dramatic as a well-placed pause.Don’t sound rushed. Let the presentation breathe.» Energy. Do you look as if you rolled out of bed on a Sundaymorning, or do you appear vibrant, enthusiastic, and genuinelythrilled to be sharing your story with the audience? We all enjoybeing around people with energy. They inspire us. They arestimulating, fun, and uplifting. An energetic person has passionin his voice, a bounce in his step, and a smile on his face.Energy makes a person likable, and likability is a key ingredientin persuasive communications. Many business professionalsunderestimate the energy level required to generate enthusiasmamong their listeners. Electrifying speakers such as Jobsbring it. Jobs always has more energy than most other speakerswho share the stage with him.

188 REFINE AND REHEARSELEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONEMost business professionals could use an energy boost. But howdo you project the right level of vigor without seeming over thetop? By weighing yourself on an energy scale. And on this scale,more is better.I often ask clients, “On a scale of one to ten—one beingfast asleep and ten being wildly pumped up like motivationalspeaker Tony Robbins—tell me where you are right now.”“A three,” most of my clients reply.“OK,” I say, “what would it feel like to be a seven, eight, ornine? Give it a try.”If they’re being honest, most presenters place themselves ata three to six on the energy scale. That means there is plenty ofroom to raise their energy level.Energy is hard to describe, but you know it when you see it.Television host Rachael Ray has it. President Barack Obama andTony Robbins have it as well. These three individuals have differentstyles, but they speak with energy.Try this exercise—practice leaving your comfort zone: Recordseveral minutes of your presentation as you would normallydeliver it. Play it back, preferably with someone else watching.Ask yourself and the observer, “Where am I on the energyscale?” Now try it again. This time, break out of your comfortzone. Ham it up. Raise your voice. Use broad gestures. Put a bigsmile on your face. Get to a point where you would feel slightlyawkward and uncomfortable if you actually delivered the presentationthat way. Now watch it again. Odds are your energywill be just right. You see, most people underestimate how littleenergy they actually have during a presentation. When they areasked to go “over the top” and to leave their comfort zone, theyhit the right note.Five Steps to Rehearsing“Off-the-Cuff” RemarksWith the economy plunging deeper into a recession, 2009 wasa tough year to introduce a new car, but automobile companies

MAKE IT LOOK EFFORTLESS 189Caroline Kennedy’s, ah, um, You Know, PerformanceFiller words such as “ah,” “um,” and “you know” should notdisqualify someone from public office, nor should they limita person’s effectiveness as a business leader. All too often,though, fillers will diminish your influence in the eyes of others.In early 2009, Caroline Kennedy had expressed interest inthe New York Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton,who became U.S. secretary of state. The media skeweredKennedy’s performance because of her verbal tendency topack her remarks with, um, you know, like, fillers. Kennedy said“you know” more than thirty times in a two-minute interview.Listening for her filler words became sport among bloggersand radio talk-show hosts. She soon withdrew her name fromconsideration.Here are three ways to eliminate fillers from your remarksbefore they detract from your message:» Ask for feedback. Most of your colleagues are afraid ofoffending you. When someone asks me for advice and I seesome real areas for improvement, I will be tough. At the sametime, as is true of most other people, I hesitate to offer unsolicitedadvice even when I’m dying to say something that canimprove someone’s presentation skills. Likewise, since mostof your family, friends, and peers avoid critiques for fear of“insulting” you, they will not voluntarily tell you that yourmannerisms are annoying! Perhaps if Kennedy had asked forhonest feedback, someone may have said, “Caroline, beforeyou pitch yourself to the governor as the next New Yorksenator, we need to work on how you answer the inevitablequestions. Your answers must be specific, inspiring, and freefrom the filler words you use in everyday conversation.”» Tap the glass. I came across this technique entirely by chance,and it worked out extremely well. I was helping a womanrehearse a presentation and noticed that every other word was“ah” or “um.” It became very distracting, so I told her I wouldtap a water glass with a spoon every time she used a filler word.My tapping became frequent—and irritating—prompting

190 REFINE AND REHEARSEher to eliminate the fillers almost immediately. I’ve used it afew times since with equal success. Of course, this techniquerequires a second person to watch you and to tap the glassduring your presentation rehearsal.» Record yourself, and play it back in the presence of others.If you are serious about improving your presentation skills, recordyourself on video, and replay it with someone else in the room.You don’t have to tape your entire presentation, just the firstfive minutes. That should give you all the information you needto make some adjustments. You might be floored to hear howmany filler words you use. For most people, simply watchingthemselves on video is enough to overcome some issues. Videofeedback is even more effective in the presence of others whocan pick up on some verbal mannerisms you might overlook.A few “um”s and “ah”s from time to time will not detractfrom your ability to persuade an audience, but a steady streamof fillers can damage your efforts. The good news is that onceyou are made aware of the problem, you can easily follow thesuggestions here to reduce or eliminate them.can’t put the brakes on designs and plans set in motion yearsago. In January, I spoke to a group of auto executives who weredesignated spokespeople for new car models arriving soon toshowrooms in North America. They were looking for adviceon how to answer tough questions from the media. The sameday, U.S. secretary of state–designate Hillary Clinton was fieldingquestions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ina confirmation hearing. The Associated Press called her performance“smooth,” and NBC’s Tom Brokaw said Clinton is knownfor her “legendary” preparation. I told the auto execs to preparefor tough questions in the same way that Clinton had probablyprepared for her five-hour appearance.It’s a technique I call the “bucket method,” and it is used inone form or another by CEOs, politicians, and, yes, Steve Jobs,

MAKE IT LOOK EFFORTLESS 191who seems to have ready answers to any question. You can use itto prepare for presentations, pitches, sales calls, or any other situationin which you anticipate difficult or sensitive questions.1. Identify the most common questions likely to be raised.Clinton expected a question about her husband’s internationalfoundation and its list of donors. Critics had widelypublicized the issue, saying her appointment would be aconflict of interest. She also knew that each of the world’shot spots at the time would be fair game: Gaza, Iran, Iraq,Pakistan, and others. For the car executives, the mostcommon question would be along the lines, “How do youexpect to sell cars in this economy?” Or, “Will 2009 only getworse for the auto industry?”2. Place the questions into “buckets,” or categories. There mightbe only one question in a bucket, as in the case of the ClintonFoundation, or there might be several, as in the case of thecarmakers and the economy. The point is to reduce the numberof questions for which you must prepare. It’s uncanny, butin my experience training thousands of speakers, the majorityof questions will fall into about seven categories.3. Create the best answer you have for the category. And thisis critical—the answer must make sense regardless of howthe question is phrased. You must avoid getting pulled intoa detailed discussion based on the wording of the question.For example, here is Clinton’s answer about her husband’sfund-raising efforts: “I am very proud to be the presidentelect’snominee for secretary of state, and I am very proudof what my husband and the Clinton Foundation and theassociated efforts he’s undertaken have accomplished, aswell.” 12 She would have said exactly the same thing regardlessof how pointed the question from Republican senatorswas.4. Listen carefully to the question, and identify a key word—atrigger—that will help you isolate the correct bucket fromwhich to pull to your answer.5. Look the person in the eye and respond with confidence.

192 REFINE AND REHEARSE“Well-prepared” speakers do not memorize answers to hundredsof potential questions. Instead, they prepare answersto categories of questions. The way a question is phrased issecondary. Think about it this way: your goal is to launch amini presentation within a presentation.You can use the bucket method to reframe the question inyour favor. Let’s assume that your company’s product is moreexpensive than a similar offering by one of your competitors.Let’s also assume that there is a good reason behind the higherprice. The way the question is phrased is not as important asthe answer you have created for the category, which is “price.” Aconversation might sound like this:CUSTOMER: Why are you charging 10 percent more for the sameproduct that I can get from company X?YOU: You’re asking about price. [Here, “charging more” isthe trigger for the answer that you prepared on “price.”Although the wording the customer chose is different fromthe term you chose, it triggers your prepared response onthe subject.] We believe our product is priced competitively,especially for a product that improves the bottomline for our clients by 30 percent on average. It’s importantto remember that we have the best service team in theindustry. That means when you need support, you’ll get it.Our team is available to you 24-7. None of our competitorscan say that.I know the CEO of a large publicly traded company who usesthis method very effectively. For example, during one toughmeeting, an analyst asked him to respond to some unfavorablecomments made by his largest competitor. “Competition” washis trigger word. This CEO smiled and confidently maintainedthe high road by saying, “Our view on competition is differentfrom many others. Our view is that you play with class. Wecompete by giving our customers superior service and sharingour vision for where we see this industry going. As we get moresuccessful, we see more competitors entering the market. It’s

MAKE IT LOOK EFFORTLESS 193part of the process of being a leader.” With this one response,the CEO deflected his competitor’s comments and reframed theissue to focus on his company’s leadership.When former secretary of state Henry Kissinger was askedhow he handled media questions, he said, “What questions doyou have for my answers?” He had his answers already prepared.The media is a tough audience, and these days so are your customers.Don’t let uncomfortable questions throw you off yourgame.Best Antidote to NervesRelentless preparation is the single best way to overcome stagefright: know what you’re going to say, when you’re going tosay it, and how you’re going to say it. Too many people focusinward during their presentations, creating even more anxietyfor themselves. They’ll ask themselves, “Is my shirt wrinkled?What is that person in the third row thinking?” In other words,it’s all about you. Instead, go from “me” to “we.” Shift the focusto what your product or service means to the lives of your listeners,and be confident in your preparation. I have workedwith several executives who are worth millions (in some cases,billions) of dollars. Guess what? They get nervous speaking infront of groups. Funny thing about nerves, though—the moreyou practice, the less nervous you will be.I know a world-famous business leader who gets very nervousbefore major presentations. He gets over it by preparing tothe extreme. He knows the content on every slide and exactlywhat he is going to say. He arrives early to the venue so that hecan test the audio and projector and advance through his slides.This particular executive even knows where the lights are in theroom, so he is never in shadow. That’s preparation! He mightget nervous, but his routine makes him feel much more confident,and he is considered one of the best speakers in corporateAmerica.Golfer Vijay Singh hits thousands of balls a day to preparefor a tournament. Olympic gold-medal winner Michael Phelps

194 REFINE AND REHEARSEswims fifty miles a week to prepare for a competition, and SteveJobs spends hours of grueling practice before a keynote presentation.Superstar performers in all fields leave nothing to chance.If you want to thrill any audience, steal a page from the Jobsplaybook and start practicing!DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Practice, practice, and practice some more. Don’t takeanything for granted. Review every slide, every demo,and every key message. You should know exactly whatyou’re going to say, when you’re going to say it, and howyou’re going to say it.» Record your presentation. Spend a couple of hundredbucks on a camcorder and record yourself. You don’tneed to record the entire presentation. The first fiveminutes should give you plenty of information. Lookfor distracting body language and verbal tics, or fillers.When possible, review the video with someone else.» Use the bucket method to prepare for tough questions.You will find that most lines of questions will fall intoone of seven categories.

N E 16SCENE 16SCEWear theAppropriateCostumeIt is hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300-pluspeople couldn’t compete with six people in blue jeans.—STEVE JOBS, RESPONDING TO AN APPLE LAWSUIT AGAINST HIMAFTER HE RESIGNED TO FORM NeXTSteve Jobs is the anti-Cher. In her Vegas concert, Cherand her dancers had 140 costume changes; Jobs has onecostume for every performance. For presentations, Jobsalways wears a black mock turtleneck, faded blue jeans,and white sneakers. If you want to get more specific, he wearsa St. Croix sweater, Levi’s 501 blue jeans, and New Balance runningshoes. Not that it matters much, because you’re not goingto dress like him. He can get away with it because he’s Steve Jobsand you’re not. Seriously. When you’re a business legend who iscredited with reinventing the entire computer industry, you canshow up in pretty much anything you want.Although most people are familiar with Jobs’s black shirtand blue jeans attire (even “The Simpsons” cartoon creatorsdressed the Jobs character in jeans and a black mock for an episodein 2008), Jobs did not always dress this way. When Jobswas a young man trying to be taken seriously by investors andthe public, he dressed much more conservatively. The Jobs of195

196 REFINE AND REHEARSE1984 looked a lot different from the Jobs of 2009. The first coverof Macworld magazine in January 1984 showed Jobs standingbehind a desk with three of the original Macintosh computers.He was wearing a brown pin-striped suit, brown tie, and whiteshirt. Yes, Jobs once donned pinstripes. He wore an even moreconservative outfit for the actual presentation when he unveiledthe Macintosh, appearing in a white shirt, gray slacks, a darkblue double-breasted blazer, and a green bow tie. Imagine, Jobsin a bow tie! It’s true.Jobs is smart. His wardrobe always reflected the leader hewanted to become. He was well aware of the impression clothescould leave on people. While Jobs was away from Apple, hepitched his new company, NeXT, to Bank of America. Dan’lLewin, NeXT’s marketing executive, showed up at Jobs’s housein blue jeans to accompany him to the meeting. Jobs walked outwearing an expensive Brioni suit from Wilkes Bashford. “Hey,”Jobs said, “we’re going to the bank today.” 1 For Jobs, jeans wereappropriate for the office, but not the bank. Now you might beconfused. Jobs wore a suit to the bank and jeans in the office.What lesson does this hold for the rest of us? A true militaryhero, former U.S. Army ranger Matt Eversmann, once gave methe best piece of wardrobe advice I’d ever heard. Eversmann ledtroops in a fierce battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993.The battle was turned into a movie called Black Hawk Down. Imet Eversmann at a business conference and asked him for someleadership advice I could share with my readers. Eversmann toldme that great leaders dress a little better than everyone else. Hesaid that when he would meet a subordinate for the first time,his shoes were shinier, his whites were whiter, and his pantswere better pressed.I never forgot that piece of advice. I later interviewed GeorgeZimmer, the founder of the Men’s Wearhouse clothing chain.Zimmer agreed with Eversmann but added, “appropriate for theculture.” It makes sense: you wouldn’t show up for the companypicnic in the same attire that you wear to the office. Also, differentcompanies have different cultures. Apple is rebellious,creative, and committed to “think different.” It’s OK for an

WEAR THE APPROPRIATE COSTUME 197Apple employee to wear more informal attire than a Wall Streetexecutive.Once you invent a product that changes the world, we cantalk about dressing down. For now, here’s the best wardrobeadvice you’ll ever hear: always dress a little better than everyoneelse, but appropriate for the culture.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Dress like the leader you want to become, not for theposition you currently have. Great leaders dress a littlebetter than everyone else in the room. Remember, whenJobs was looking for funding at the bank, he dressed inan expensive suit.» Wear clothes that are appropriate for the culture. SteveJobs can get away with a black mock, blue jeans, andrunning shoes because everything about his brand isbuilt on the concept of disrupting the status quo.» If you’re going to dress like a rebel, dress like a well-offrebel. Jobs wears St. Croix sweaters. It might look like ablack T-shirt—but at least he spends money on it.

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N E 17SCENE 17SCEToss the ScriptBe a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t usedto an environment where excellence is expected.—STEVE JOBSSteve Jobs is the consummate presenter for twenty-firstcenturyaudiences who want to engage in conversations,not lectures. Jobs has a casual speaking style, an informalitythat, as discussed in the preceding chapter, comes fromhours of practice. Practice allows him to work largely without ascript. During demonstrations, Jobs conceals notes discreetly fromthe audience but never reads them word for word. The notes serveonly as cue cards for the next step in the demonstration. Jobs performslargely without notes for the majority of his presentation.As suggested in Scene 8, most presenters create “slideuments”:documents masking as slides. Slideuments act as a crutch for mediocrepresenters who read every word on the slide, often turningtheir backs to the audience to do so. Jobs does have a script—largelyin his head. His slides, which are highly visual, act as a prompter.Each slide has one key idea and one idea only.After Jobs pulled the new MacBook Air from a manila envelopein the “holy shit” moment at Macworld 2008, he exploredthe new computer in more detail. As you can see in Table 17.1, hisslides contained very few words but contained just enough informationto act as a prompter for one idea—one theme per slide. 1Jobs went on to explain that MacBook Air had the sameprocessor used in all of Apple’s other notebooks and iMacs. Hemarveled at the fact that Intel could step up to the challenge,199

200 REFINE AND REHEARSETABLE 17.1 ONE THEME PER SLIDE AT JOBS’S MACWORLD2008 PRESENTATIONSTEVE’S WORDS”It’s the world’s thinnest notebook.”“Open it up and it has a magnetic latch;no hooks to catch on your clothing.”“It’s a got a full-size, 13.3-inch widescreendisplay.”“The display is gorgeous. It has anLED-backlit display. It saves power, it’sbright, and it’s instant on the minuteyou open it.”“On top of the display is a built-iniSight camera for videoconferencingright out of the box.”“Flip it down and there is a full-sizekeyboard. This is perhaps the bestnotebook keyboard we’ve evershipped. It’s a phenomenal keyboard.”“We’ve got a very generous track pad,which is great. We’ve also built inmulti-touch gesture support.”“Again, you can see how beautiful andthin this product is. Now, how did we fita Mac in here? I’m still stunned that ourengineering team could pull this off.”“The real magic is in the electronics. Thisis a complete Mac on a board. What’s sospecial about that? This is how big theboard is [does not mention pencil; let’sthe visual speak for itself]. It’s really tiny.To fit an entire Mac on this thing was anamazing feat of engineering.”STEVE’S SLIDESText only: “World’s thinnestnotebook”Photo of computer with thewords “Magnetic latch” on leftside of screenPhoto of computer with thewords “13.3 inch widescreen” inthe middle of a black displayPhoto of computer with thewords “LED backlight “ on leftside of screenPhoto of computer fades,revealing iSight camera on topof displayPhoto of keyboard with thewords “Full size keyboard” onleft side of screenPhoto of computer’s track padwith the words “Multi-touchgestures” on left side of screenPhoto of computer from its sidewith the words “How did we fita Mac in here?”Photo of motherboard withimage of a pencil alongsideit—the board is smaller than thelength of the pencil

TOSS THE SCRIPT 201STEVE’S WORDS“We didn’t compromise on performance.MacBook Air has the Intel Core 2 Duo.This is a really speedy processor . . . a‘screamer.’ ”STEVE’S SLIDESPhoto of Intel Core 2 Duomicroprocessorcreating a chip with the same power but in a package that was60 percent smaller. Jobs then introduced Intel CEO Paul Otellini,who gave Jobs a sample processor. The chip was barely visible toanyone sitting past the front row, but Jobs lit up the auditoriumwith his smile. “This is awesome technology,” he said, makingno attempt to conceal his enthusiasm. See Figure 17.1.Figure 17.1 Jobs shows genuine enthusiasm as he holds up the tiny Intelprocessor from the MacBook Air.TONY AVELAR/AFP/Getty Images

202 REFINE AND REHEARSEFive Steps to Tossing the ScriptGreat actors rehearse for months before opening night. The audiencewould walk out if an actor appeared onstage with a scriptin hand. We expect actors to speak naturally, not as though theyhad memorized lines, even though that is exactly what they did.Your audience expects the same—a conversational speaker who,instead of rambling, hits each mark precisely. Following are fivesteps that will help you memorize your script while making youappear as natural as a gifted actor or a gifted presenter such asSteve Jobs:1. Write your script in full sentences in the “notes” sectionof PowerPoint. This is not the time for extensive editing.Simply write your ideas in complete sentences. Do try,however, to keep your ideas to no more than four or fivesentences.2. Highlight or underline the key word from each sentence,and practice your presentation. Run through yourscript without worrying about stumbling or forgetting apoint. Glance at the key words to jog your memory.3. Delete extraneous words from your scripted sentences,leaving only the key words. Practice your presentationagain, this time using only the key words as reminders.4. Memorize the one key idea per slide. Ask yourself, “Whatis the one thing I want my audience to take away from theslide?” The visual on the slide should complement the onetheme. In this case, the visual becomes your prompter. Forexample, when Jobs talked about the Intel Core 2 Duo asthe standard processor built into the MacBook Air, his slideshowed only a photo of the processor. The “one thing” hewanted the audience to know was that Apple had built anultrathin computer with no compromise in performance.5. Practice the entire presentation without notes, simplyusing the slides as your prompter. By the time youexecute these five steps, you will have rehearsed each slidefour times, which is much more time than the averagespeaker commits to practicing a presentation.

TOSS THE SCRIPT 203Now let’s put the five-step method into practice. I cameacross an ad for Vanguard no-load mutual funds. 2 It showed twoglasses of water; the glass on the left contained a small amountof water, and the glass on the right was completely full. Theheadline read: “The lower the cost, the more you keep.” Adssuch as this one provide excellent examples of how to createcompelling visual slides. Assume the ad is one slide: Table 17.2shows what a hypothetical script written with the five steps inTABLE 17.2 APPLYING THE FIVE-STEP METHOD TO TOSSINGTHE SCRIPTSTEPPRESENTATION SCRIPT1 How much your investment costs is very important and could havean impact on how much money you make over the long run. Ingeneral, the lower the cost, the more you keep. Many investmentfirms say they are low cost, but the fact is they charge six timesmore than we do. This can cost you thousands of dollars. Forexample, if you invest $10,000 for twenty years at an 8 percentreturn, you would keep $58,000 more with our fund versus theindustry average.2 Your investment costs are very important and could have an impacton how much money you make over the long run. In general, thelower the cost, the more you keep. Many investment firms say theyare low cost, but the fact is they charge six times more than we do.This can cost you thousands of dollars. For example, if you invest$10,000 for twenty years at an 8 percent return, you would keep$58,000 more with our fund versus the industry average.3 Investment costs importantLower the cost, the more you keepSix times moreKeep $58,000 more4 The lower the cost, the more you keep.5 Rehearse presentation with no notes. The slide of two waterglasses—one empty, one full—should be enough to prompt you todeliver the information: the four bullets in step 3.

204 REFINE AND REHEARSEmind might look like. (I created the content based on informationin Vanguard’s marketing material.)When you’re actually delivering the final presentation, if thenotes give you peace of mind, by all means, keep them available.A major benefit of Apple’s Keynote presentation softwareis that it allows the speaker to see notes on the computer screenwhile the audience sees the slide on the projector. This is harder,but not impossible, to do with PowerPoint. However, regardlessof the software you use, if you practice enough, you will findthat you don’t need to rely on your notes at all.How to Use Notes WhenNotes Are a MustNotes are not inherently bad. In a rare glimpse at how Jobs actuallydoes use notes, a blogger took a photograph of Jobs’s demoHow Joel Osteen Inspires MillionsJoel Osteen is the hugely popular pastor of Houston’sLakewood Church. He preaches to some forty-seven thousandpeople a week who show up to see him in person andto millions of others on television. Osteen speaks in a natural,conversational style and rarely misses a beat, despite creatingthirty minutes of content every week. How does he do it?First, he commits. Osteen begins working on sermons on theWednesday prior to his appearance and spends the better partof four days practicing. Second, he uses notes but glances atthem very discreetly. He places notes on a lectern but neverstands behind the lectern. This approach lets him keep eyecontact with the audience and maintain an open posture. Henever reads a full sentence from his notes. Instead, he walksbehind the lectern, glances at his notes, and keeps walkingto the opposite side, delivering his messages directly toworshippers.

TOSS THE SCRIPT 205notes at Macworld 2007, famous for the release of the iPhone.The notes were neatly bound, and color-coded tabs separatedthe sections. The blogger’s photo showed the booklet openedto the page where Jobs demonstrated the Internet capabilities ofiPhone. Four categories were clearly marked in bold and a largerfont: Mail, Safari, Widgets, and Maps. 3 Under each main category,there were two to five supporting points. Let’s take one inparticular, the Maps section. Here is exactly what was printedon the page:MAPS» Moscone West» Starbucks order 4,000 lattes to go» Washington Monument» Show satellite» Eiffel Tower, ColosseumThat’s it. These notes were all the prompting Jobs needed towalk his audience through a particular section of the demo.Jobs began by telling his audience that he wanted to showthem something “truly remarkable,” Google Maps on iPhone.First, he opened up the application and zoomed in to a streetlevelview of San Francisco and Moscone West, the site ofMacworld.The second thing he did was to type “Starbucks” to searchfor a nearby coffee shop. He then called Starbucks on the iPhoneand played the prank discussed in Scene 12, ordering four thousandlattes to go. (I had no idea that the lattes gag was scripteduntil I saw the photograph of Jobs’s notes on the stage. He playedit off as if it was a spontaneous moment, showing, once again,that Jobs takes nothing for granted.)The third thing he did was visit the Washington Monument,double-tapping the screen to bring the map closer. Fourth, heselected the option to replace the map with satellite photographs.He brought up a live image of the Washington Monument. “Isn’tthat incredible, right on my phone?” he said. Finally, he visitedthe Eiffel Tower and Roman Colosseum and showed both in thesatellite view. He concluded by saying, “Satellite imagery right

206 REFINE AND REHEARSEon our phone. Unbelievable. Isn’t that incredible?” 4 Jobs did relyon his script for the demo, but it had been written and rehearsedextensively so that only a few key words were all he needed toprompt him.Yes, Steve Jobs appears conversational, but by now you shouldknow that being “conversational” requires a lot of practice. Andhow you practice makes all the difference. Use the slides as yourteleprompter, sticking to one theme per slide and several supportingpoints. If you forget some of your supporting points, youwill at least have hit the main theme. Above all, toss the script.Notes will interfere with the emotional connection you need toestablish with your audience, detracting from the presentationexperience. Theatrics can turn an average presentation into anextraordinary event. A script gets in the way.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Don’t read from notes except in special circumstances inwhich you must follow a step-by-step process, such as ademonstration.» When you must read from notes, create no more thanthree or four large-font bullet points on one note card orsheet of paper. Create one note card per slide. If you’reusing speaker’s notes in Keynote or PowerPoint presentationsoftware, keep your bullet points to no more thanthree or four. One is even better.» Use the visuals on your slide to prompt you to deliver justone key theme—one main message—per slide. Think“one theme per slide.”

N E 18SCENE 18SCEHave FunEveryone wants a MacBook Probecause they are so bitchin’.—STEVE JOBSIn 2002, the Mac OS X was brand new, and Apple was strivingto get customers and developers to embrace it. Jobs decidedto put the issue to rest, literally, at the Worldwide DevelopersConference.As the presentation began, Jobs was not onstage. Instead,white smoke surrounded a casket. Gloomy pipe-organ musicplayed in the background. Jobs finally emerged from behind acurtain, walked to the casket, lifted the lid, and pulled out alarge-scale copy of OS 9, Apple’s previous operating system. Theaudience got the joke immediately and started laughing andapplauding.Jobs was committed to the joke and took it further. With acopy of OS 9 lying in the casket, Jobs pulled out a sheet of paperand eulogized the software. “Mac OS 9 was a friend to us all,” hestarted.He worked tirelessly on our behalf, always posting our applications,never refusing a command, always at our beck andcall, except occasionally when he forgot who he was andneeded to be restarted. He came into this world in October of1998 . . . We are here today to mourn the passing of OS 9. Heis in the great bit bucket in the sky, no doubt looking downupon this with that same smile he displayed every time hebooted. Mac OS 9 is survived by his next generation, Mac207

208 REFINE AND REHEARSEOS X . . . Please join me in a moment of silence as we rememberour old friend, Mac OS 9.” 1Jobs walked back to the casket, put the box back in, closed thelid, and gently laid a rose on the top. The audience ate it up. Jobsmade his point, and he had a lot of fun doing it.Jobs has fun, and it shows. Despite relentless planning andpreparation, hours and hours of rehearsal, and near-fanaticaldevotion to getting every slide and every demo just right, sometimesthings go wrong, but Jobs doesn’t let the small stuff get tohim. He’s going to have fun, whether a demo works or not.“Let’s take a look at how big this market is,” said Jobs as hedescribed the market opportunity for the iPhone at Macworld2007. Suddenly, his slides failed to advance. “My clicker’s notworking,” he said. As he walked to the right of the stage to checkthe computer, the slide seemed to advance. “Oh, maybe it isworking. No, it’s not.” Jobs picked up another clicker but it, too,failed to work. He smiled and said, “The clicker is not working.They’re scrambling backstage right now.” 2 The audience laughed,and after a few more seconds of trying to fix the clicker, Jobssimply paused, smiled, and told the following story:You know, this reminds me, when I was in high school, SteveWozniak and I—mostly Steve—made this little device calleda TV jammer. It was this little oscillator that put out frequenciesthat would screw up the TV. Woz would have it in hispocket. We would go out to a dorm at Berkeley, where hewas going to school, and a bunch of folks would be watching“Star Trek.” He would screw up the TV, someone would goto fix it, and just as they had their foot off the ground, he’dturn it back on, and then he’d screw up the TV again. Withinfive minutes, he’d have someone like this [contorts his body;see Figure 18.1] . . . OK, it looks like it’s working now. 3In this one-minute story, Jobs revealed a side of his personalitythat few people get to see. It made him more human, engaging,and natural. He also never got flustered. I have seen even someexperienced presenters get derailed over smaller problems.

HAVE FUN 209A YouTube user posted a five-minute clip showing dozens ofJobs “bloopers.” 4 The number of things that have gone wrongis surprising given the level of extraordinarily detailed practicethat goes into a Steve Jobs keynote. This blooper reel proves thateven the best-laid plans go awry from time to time: a slide maynot advance, a wrong slide may come up, and a demo may notwork. These things happen to even the best-prepared presenter,and they can, and probably will, happen to you at some point.The difference between mediocre presenters and a true mastersuch as Jobs is that when demonstrations do not turn out asplanned, Jobs reacts with a cool confidence. The audience sees ashowman in complete control of his material. If something failsto work, Jobs does not dwell on it or call undue attention to theFigure 18.1 Jobs demonstrates a prank he and Apple cofounderSteve Wozniak would pull on unsuspecting college students.David Paul Morris/Getty Images

210 REFINE AND REHEARSEissue. He smiles, has fun, explains to the audience what theyshould have seen, and moves on.Don’t Sweat the Small StuffDuring a demonstration of Apple TV at Macworld 2008, Jobsbrought up a live connection to Flickr, a photo-sharing site. Jobsselected several categories to show the audience how photographscould be served from the site and displayed on a wide-screentelevision in a living room. Unfortunately, the screen went black.After about twenty seconds of trying to retrieve the images, Jobssimply turned to the audience, grinned, and said, “Well, I’mafraid Flickr isn’t serving up photos on that one.” 5Jobs doesn’t let anything ruffle him onstage. Instead, heacknowledges the problem, continues the presentation, summarizesthe material, and enjoys himself. He concluded the AppleTV demonstration by saying, “All of this from your wide-screen:movies, TV shows, music, podcasts, photos from dot-Mac and—when they’re serving up photos—Flickr! So, that’s what I wantedto show you today. Isn’t that incredible?” 6 Jobs never loses hisenthusiasm. The demo might not have gone perfectly, but thatdoesn’t diminish the joy he has for the product.No matter how much you prepare, something might, andprobably will, go differently from how you had planned. Noticethat I did not say something will go “wrong.” It goes wrongonly when you call attention to the issue or you let it ruin therest of your presentation. People are there to hear you, to learnsomething new about a product, service, or initiative that couldimprove their lives.When a demo fails to come off as smoothly as Jobs hadrehearsed, he never loses his cool. He says something like, “Oops,that’s not what I wanted” or “I need some help here, guys; thisthing isn’t working.” He will take a few moments to get it working,and he will do so very calmly.In one presentation, Jobs could not get a digital camera towork, so he had some fun with it, tossed it to an Apple employeein the front row, and said, “I need an expert to fix it. It’s too

HAVE FUN 211technical for me. It’s pretty awesome when it works.” 7 That’s it.It’s pretty awesome when it works.Think about watching an ice-skater perform an intricatelychoreographed routine. You know that the slightest mistakecould land the skater on her butt. When it happens, you wince,but you hope the skater gets up to finish her routine on a highnote. The same applies to your audience. Nobody expects perfectionexcept you. Your audience will forgive a blooper as longas you get back on your feet.During Jobs’s leave of absence for a liver transplant, muchhad been written about what he revealed, how much he shouldhave revealed, and whether he should have revealed it sooner.Jobs was clearly frustrated with the press, calling some reportersto chastise them about covering matters he wanted to keepprivate. While bloggers and reporters were scrambling to get thescoop on the exact nature of his illness, I was struck at how Jobskept his trademark good humor.In September 2008, Jobs walked onstage at the WWDC andsaid, “Good morning. Thank you for coming this morning. Wehave some really exciting stuff to share with you. Before we do,I just wanted to mention this.” He pointed to the slide behindhim, which had only one sentence: “The reports of my deathare greatly exaggerated.” “Enough said,” Job told the audience,and he promptly continued with his presentation. 8 The audiencelaughed and cheered. The media and investors wantedmore information, of course, but that’s all that Jobs would givethem at the moment, and he had fun with it at their expense.Now, That’s Infotainment!Most business communicators lose sight of the fact that theiraudiences want to be informed and entertained. Jobs approachespresentations as infotainment; he teaches you something newand has fun doing it. It’s the best of all worlds for his audience.Most business professionals do not smile nor relish the momentas much as they should. They get too caught up in “presentationmode” and lose the enthusiasm they really have about

212 REFINE AND REHEARSEtheir company, product, or service. Jobs always walks onstagewith a broad smile, an easy laugh, and a joke or two (often atMicrosoft’s expense).On October 16, 2003, Jobs had finished the discussion of anew music alliance with AOL and an explanation of the newiTunes features. The audience thought he was done, but Jobs had“just one more feature” to talk about. He said it was a feature that“a lot of people thought we would never add till this happened.”He pointed to the slide, which read: “Hell froze over.” He said,“I’m here to report to you today that this has happened.” 9 Andwith that introduction, Jobs announced iTunes for Windows.The audience laughed even harder when Jobs said, “iTunes forWindows is probably the best Windows app ever written!” Theaudience was thrilled, and Jobs himself was clearly enjoying thereaction.Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak has said he and Jobs lovedtwo things in common: electronics and pranks. From theearly seventies when Jobs and “Woz” were building computerstogether in their parents’ garages, Jobs had a passion for bringingpersonal computing to the masses. That “spirit” comesacross in every Steve Jobs presentation. A Steve Jobs presentationis passionate, exciting, informative, and, above all, fun. In manyways, it comes naturally, because it’s the way he has lived hislife.When Jobs took his leave of absence in 2009, Apple’s sharesplummeted on speculation over Jobs’s health, a possible lack ofnew and exciting products, and potential management changes.Observers wondered, would Apple without Jobs be successful?Richard the Fun-HeartedI have no secret. There are no rules to follow in business. I just workhard and, as I always have done, believe I can do it. Most of all,though, I try to have fun.—RICHARD BRANSON

HAVE FUN 213One analyst, Shaw Wu, had a different take on all of it. Applewithout Jobs would prosper, he argued, because his spirit hadbeen “institutionalized.” Wu said Apple had an uncanny abilityto attract hardworking entrepreneurs who are looking to changethe world.PC World said that Jobs, a master showman, had raised newproduct presentations to an art form and wished him a “speedyreturn to health” so Jobs could head up the company again andtake the stage once more. 10For more than three decades, Jobs has cast his spell on theworld. And whether you’re a “Mac” or a “PC,” we all owe Jobs adebt of gratitude for a chance to join him on his “magic swirlingship,” to quote his favorite musician, Bob Dylan. 11 It’s beena magnificent ride, and if you pay close enough attention, Jobscan help you sell your ideas more successfully than you everthought possible.DIRECTOR’S NOTES» Treat presentations as “infotainment.” Your audiencewants to be educated and entertained. Have fun. It’llshow.» Never apologize. You have little to gain from callingattention to a problem. If your presentation hits a glitch,acknowledge it, smile, and move on. If it was not obviousto anyone but you, do not call attention to it.» Change your frame of reference. When something doesnot go exactly as planned, it did not “go wrong” unlessyou allow it to derail the rest of your presentation. Keepthe big picture in mind, have fun, and let the small stuffroll off your back.

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NCO R EENCOREEOne More ThingStay hungry, stay foolish.—STEVE JOBSSteve Jobs keeps his audience guessing. Frequently, butnot always, he will leave the audience with “just onemore thing” before he ends a presentation. For example,Jobs announced that he would return as Apple’s fulltimeCEO (dropping the “interim” from his title) as the “onemore thing” at the conclusion of his Macworld presentationon January 5, 2000. It is the element of surprise that audienceshave come to love and expect. Since his audience expects “onemore thing,” Jobs does not always deliver. A surprise would failto surprise if everyone knows it’s coming!So, in true Steve Jobs fashion, I would like to add just “onemore thing” to this discussion. On June 12, 2005, shortly aftera bout with a rare, curable form of pancreatic cancer, Jobs gavethe commencement address at Stanford University. It becamean Internet sensation. It is one of the most popular commencementaddresses on YouTube, far more popular than remarks ofother famous commencement speakers such as Oprah; The LastLecture author, Randy Pausch; or Harry Potter’s J. K. Rowling.Jobs crafted the speech using many of the same techniquesthat make his presentations so electrifying. About the only thingabsent that day were slides. The rest is classic Steve Jobs. I haveexcerpted sections to illustrate how he applied his extraordinarymessaging and presentation skills to the now famous speech. Ialso urge you to watch the full speech on the Stanford website. 1215

216 ENCOREToday I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it.No big deal. Just three stories.We again see the rule of three (refer to Scene 5) playing a bigrole in Jobs’s message. He draws a road map for his listeners bytelling them to expect three stories—not one or four, but three.The structure of the speech itself is strikingly simple: opening,three stories, conclusion.The first story is about connecting the dots.Here Jobs tells the first of three personal anecdotes. This one isabout his dropping out of Reed College after six months. Jobssaid it was scary at first but ultimately worked out, because itallowed him to continue to take courses he was interested in,such as calligraphy. Ten years later, he incorporated calligraphyfonts into the Macintosh, “connecting the dots.”It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way thatscience can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.Jobs found his passion for simplicity and design at an early age.He discovered his core purpose, a messianic zeal to change theworld, and never looked back. Share your passion for your subject,and your enthusiasm will be contagious.My second story is about love and loss.In this section, Jobs talks about falling in love with computersat the age of twenty and sharing that passion with his friend“Woz.” He talked about building a $2 billion company in tenyears and then, at the age of thirty, being fired by Apple’s boardof directors.I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going wasthat I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.

ENCORE 217Again, passion is a central theme in Jobs’s life. Jobs is convincedthat he’s successful because he followed his heart, histrue passion. There’s a lot of truth to it. Remember, none of hispresentation techniques will work if you don’t have genuinepassion for your message. Find the one thing you love to do somuch that you can’t wait for the sun to rise to do it all overagain. Once you do, you’ll have found your true calling.My third story is about death.This sentence begins the most poignant section of the speech.Jobs recalls the day doctors told him he had pancreatic cancer.He thought he had three to six months to live. The cancerturned out to be a very rare, curable form of the disease, but theexperience left an indelible impression on Jobs.No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heavendon’t want to die to get there.Jobs always has fun. He finds a way to inject humor into a morbidsubject.Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’slife. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with theresults of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’opinions drown out your own inner voice.This paragraph is an example of a powerful rhetorical devicecalled anaphora, repetition of the same word(s) in consecutivesentences. Think of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream that. . . I have a dream . . . I have a dream today.” Great politicalspeakers from Churchill to King, from Reagan to Obama, haveall used anaphora to structure strong arguments. As Jobs demonstrates,this classic sentence structure need not be reserved forpolitical leaders. It is available to any person who wants to commandan audience.

218 ENCOREAnd most important, have the courage to follow your heartand intuition. They somehow already know what you trulywant to become . . . stay hungry, stay foolish.Jobs ends the speech with his headline, his key theme andadvice—stay hungry, stay foolish. As we’ve discussed, Jobsrepeated his key theme several times in a presentation. In thiscase, he repeats “stay hungry, stay foolish” three times in theconcluding paragraph.Jobs’s speech reveals the secret to his success as a businessleader and communicator: do what you love, view setbacks asopportunities, and dedicate yourself to the passionate pursuit ofexcellence. Whether it’s designing a new computer, introducingnew gadgets, running Apple, overseeing Pixar, or giving a presentation,Jobs believes in his life’s work. This is the last andmost important lesson Jobs can teach—the power of believingin yourself and your story. Jobs has followed his heart his wholelife. Follow yours to captivate your audience. You’ll be one stepcloser to delivering insanely great presentations.

S NOTES NOTEPrologue1. Jon Fortt, “Steve Jobs, Tech’s Last Celebrity CEO,” Fortune, December 19,2008, http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/19/technology/fortt_tech_ceos.fortune/?postversion=2008121915 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Wikipedia, “Charisma,” includes Max Weber quote, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/charisma (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Nancy Duarte, Slide:ology (Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, 2008), xviii.4. Michael Hiltzik, “Apple’s Condition Linked to Steve Jobs’s Health,” LosAngeles Times, January 5, 2009, latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik5-2009jan05,0,7305482.story (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Stephen Wilbers, “Good Writing for Good Results: A Brief Guide for BusyAdministrators,” The College Board Review, no. 154 (1989–90), via Wilbers,wilbers.com/cbr%20article.htm.6. “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch,” first aired on July 28, 2008, propertyof CNBC.7. Wikipedia, “Steve Jobs,” includes Jobs’s quote, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/steve_jobs (accessed January 30, 2009).8. Alan Deutschman, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (New York: BroadwayBooks, 2001), 127.Scene 1: Plan in Analog1. Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen (Berkeley: New Riders, 2008), 45.2. Nancy Duarte, Slide:ology (Sebastopol, CA: O‘Reilly Media, 2008).3. Cliff Atkinson, Beyond Bullet Points (Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2005),14.4. Ibid., 15.5. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,“ Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).6. YouTube, “Steve Jobs, ‘Computers Are Like a Bicycle for Our Minds,’ ”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=ob_GX50Za6c (accessed January 30,2009).7. John Paczkowski, “Apple CEO Steve Jobs,” D5 Highlights from D: AllThings Digital, May 30, 2007, http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070530/steve-jobs-ceo-of-apple (accessed January 30, 2009).8. Apple, “WWDC 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08 (accessed January 30, 2009).9. Leander Kahney, Inside Steve’s Brain (New York: Penguin Group, 2008), 29.219

220 NOTESScene 2: Answer the One Question That Matters Most1. YouTube, “The First iMac Introduction,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=0BHPtoTctDy (accessed January 30, 2009).2. YouTube, “Apple WWDC 2005—The Intel Switch Revealed,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=ghdTqnYnFyg (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Wikipedia, “Virtual Private Server,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/server_virtualization (accessed January 30, 2009).4. Ashlee Vance, “Cisco Plans Big Push into Server Market,” New YorkTimes, January 19, 2009, nytimes.com/2009/01/20/technology/companies/20cisco.html?scp=1&sq=cisco%20+virtualization&st=search(accessed January 30, 2009).5. YouTube, “Macworld 2003—The Keynote Introduction (Part 1),” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqYn77dT3s&feature=related (accessed January30, 2009).6. Apple, “Apple Introduces the New iPod Nano: World’s Most PopularDigital Music Player Features New Aluminum Design in Five Colors andTwenty-Four-Hour Battery Life,” Apple press release, September 12, 2006,apple.com/pr/library/2006/sep/12nano.html (accessed January 30, 2009).7. Apple, “Apple Announces Time Capsule: Wireless Backup for AllYour Macs,” Apple press release, January 15, 2008, apple.com/pr/library/2008/01/15timecapsule.html (accessed January 30, 2009).8. YouTube, “3G iPhone WWDC Keynote 6/9/08,” YouTube, June 9, 2008,youtube.com/watch?v=mA9Jrk16Ki4 (accessed January 30, 2009).9. YouTube, “Steve Jobs Announces iTunes 8 with Genius,” YouTube,September 9, 2008, youtube.com/watch?v=6XsgEH5HMvI (accessedJanuary, 2009).10. YouTube, “Steve Jobs CNBC Interview: Macworld 2007,” YouTube, CNBCreporter Jim Goldman, youtube.com/watch?v=0my4eis82jw&feature=playlist&p=0520CA6271486D5B&playnext=1&index=13 (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).11. Guy Kawasaki, The Macintosh Way (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), 100.Scene 3: Develop a Messianic Sense of Purpose1. John Sculley, Odyssey (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 90.2. Alan Deutschman, Inside Steve’s Brain (New York: Penguin Group, 2008),168.3. Stanford University, “ ‘You’ve Got to Find What You Love,’ Jobs Says,”Stanford Report, June 14, 2005, Steve Jobs commencement address,delivered on June 12, 2005, http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html (accessed January 30, 2009).

NOTES 2214. YouTube, “Macworld Boston 1997—Full Version,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=PEHNrqPkefI (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Carmine Gallo, “From Homeless to Multimillionaire,” BusinessWeek,July 23, 2007, businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb20070723_608918.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).6. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of VisionaryCompanies (New York: HarperBusiness, 1994), 48.7. Triumph of the Nerds, PBS documentary written and hosted by Robert X.Cringely (1996: New York).8. Wikipedia, “Steve Jobs,” includes Jobs’s quote, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/steve_jobs (accessed January 30, 2009).9. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008),64.10. John Markoff, “The Passion of Steve Jobs,” New York Times, January 15,2008, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/the-passion-of-steve-jobs (accessed January 30, 2009).11. John Paczkowski, “Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,” D5 Highlights from D:All Things Digital, May 30, 2007, http://d5.allthingsd.com/20070530/d5-gates-jobs-interview (accessed January 30, 2009).12. “Oprah,” first aired on October 23, 2008, property of Harpo Productions.13. Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know (New York: FreePress, 2005), 59.14. Ibid., 61–62.15. John Sculley, Odyssey (New York: Harper & Row, 1987), 65.16. Smithsonian Institution, “Oral History Interview with Steve Jobs,”Smithsonian Institution Oral and Video Histories—Steve Jobs, April20, 1995, http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/comphist/sj1.html(accessed January 30, 2009).17. BusinessWeek, “Steve Jobs: He Thinks Different,” BusinessWeek,November1, 2004, businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_44/b3906025_mz072.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).18. Jeff Goodell, “Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone,December 3, 2003, rollingstone.com/news/story/5939600/steve_jobs_the_rolling_stone_interview/ (accessed January 30, 2009).19. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, Built to Last: Successful Habits of VisionaryCompanies (New York: HarperBusiness, 1994), 234.20. Triumph of the Nerds, PBS documentary written and hosted by Robert X.Cringely (1996, New York).21. Gary Wolf, “Steve Jobs: The Next Insanely Great Thing,” Wired,1996,via Wikipedia, wired.com/wired/archive//4.02/jobs_pr.html (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).

222 NOTES22. Wikipedia, “Think Different,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/think_different(accessed January 30, 2009).23. Alan Deutschman, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (New York: BroadwayBooks, 2001), 242.24. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).Scene 4: Create Twitter-Like Headlines1. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Ibid.3. Ibid.4. CNBC, “Steve Jobs Shows off Sleek Laptop,” CNBC interview after2008 Macworld keynote, http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/01/15/technology/1194817476407/steve-jobs-shows-off-sleek-laptop.html(accessed January 30, 2009).5. Ibid.6. Apple, “Apple Introduces MacBook Air—The World’s ThinnestNotebook,” Apple press release, January 15, 2008, apple.com/pr/library/2008/01/15mbair.html (accessed January 30, 2009).7. Ibid.8. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).9. YouTube, “Steve Jobs Introduces GarageBand 1.0 (Assisted by JohnMayer),” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=BVXWFgQvdlK (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).10. YouTube, “The First iMac Introduction,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=0BHPtoTctDY (accessed January 30, 2009).11. YouTube, “Apple Music Event 2001—The First Ever iPod Introduction,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=KN0SVBCJqLs&feature=related(accessed January 30, 2009).12. Matthew Fordahl, “Apple’s New iPod Player Puts ‘1,000 Songs in YourPocket,’ ” Associated Press at seattlepi.com, November 1, 2001, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/44900_ipod01.shtml (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).13. YouTube, “Macworld 2003—The Keynote Introduction (Part 1),” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=ZZqYn77dT3s&feature=related (accessed January30, 2009).14. Apple, “Apple Unveils Keynote,” Apple press release, January 7, 2003,apple.com/pr/library/2003/jan/07keynote.html (accessed January 9,2009).

NOTES 223Scene 5: Draw a Road Map1. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. YouTube, “The Lost 1984 Video (The Original 1984 MacintoshIntroduction),” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=2B-XwPjn9YY (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).3. YouTube, “Apple WWDC 2005—The Intel Switch Revealed,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=ghdTqnYnFyg (accessed January 30, 2009).4. Michelle Kessler, “Better Computer Chips Raise Laptops’ Abilities,” USAToday, usatoday.com/printedition/money/20080715/1b_chips15.art.htm?loc=interstitialskip (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Edward Baig, “Windows 7 Gives Hope for Less-Bloated OperatingSystem,” USA Today, sec. 6B, January 22, 2009.6. Apple, “WWDC 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08 (accessed January 30, 2009).7. CESweb.org, “Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach Keynote: InternationalConsumer Electronics Show 2009,” remarks by Steve Ballmer and RobbieBach at International CES 2009, January 7, 2009, cesweb.org/docs/microsoft-steveballmer-_robbiebach-transcript.pdf (accessed January 30,2009).8. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).9. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, “Special Messageto the Congress on Urgent National Needs Page 4,” President JohnF. Kennedy speech, May 25, 1961, jfklibrary.org/historical+resources/archives/reference+desk/speeches/jfk/urgent+national+needs+page+4.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).10. American Rhetoric, “Barack Obama 2004 Democratic NationalConvention Keynote Address: The Audacity of Hope,” July 27, 2004,americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/barackobama2004dnc.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).11. American Rhetoric, “Barack Obama Presidential InauguralAddress: What Is Required: The Price and Promise of Citizenship,”January 20, 2009, americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamainauguraladdress.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).12. YouTube, “Apple Music Event 2001—The First Ever iPod Introduction,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLS&feature=related(accessed January 30, 2009).13. Stanford University, “ ‘You’ve Got to Find What You Love,’ Jobs Says,”Stanford Report, June 14, 2005, Steve Jobs commencement address,

224 NOTESdelivered on June 12, 2005, http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html (accessed January 30, 2009).14. American Rhetoric, “Jim Valvano Arthur Ashe Courage & HumanitarianAward Acceptance Address,” March 4, 1993, americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimvalvanoespyaward.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).Scene 6: Introduce the Antagonist1. Wikipedia, “1984 (Advertisement),” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_ad(accessed January 30, 2009).2. YouTube, “1983 Apple Keynote—The ‘1984’ Ad Introduction,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=lSiQA6KKyJo (accessed January 30, 2009).3. YouTube, “Macworld 2007—Steve Jobs Introduces iPhone—Part 1,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=PZoPdBh8KUS&feature=related(accessed January 30, 2009).4. YouTube, “Steve Jobs CNBC Interview: Macworld 2007,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=0mY4EIS82Jw (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Martin Lindstrom, Buyology (New York: Doubleday, 2008), 107.6. Ibid.7. John Medina, Brain Rules (Seattle: Pear Press, 2008), 84.8. YouTube, “Macworld SF 2003 Part 1,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=lSiQA6KKyJo (accessed January 30, 2009).9. Demo.com, TravelMuse, Inc., pitch, DEMO 2008, demo.com/watchlisten/videolibrary.html?bcpid=1127798146&bclid=1774292996&bctid=1778578857 (accessed January 30, 2009).10. An Inconvenient Truth, DVD, directed by Davis Guggengeim (Hollywood:Paramount Pictures, 2006).Scene 7: Reveal the Conquering Hero1. YouTube, “1983 Apple Keynote,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=lSiQA6KKyJo (accessed January 30, 2009).2. YouTube, “Apple Music Event 2001—The First Ever iPod Introduction,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs&feature=related(accessed January 30, 2009).3. Mike Langberg, “Sweet & Low: Well-Designed iPod Upstarts Are Music forthe Budget,” Seattle Times, sec. C6, August 9, 2003.4. Apple, “Out of the Box,” 2006 television ad, Apple website, apple.com/getamac/ads (accessed January 30, 2009).5. YouTube, “New iPhone Shazam Ad,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=P3NSsVKcrnY (accessed January 30, 2009).6. Apple, “Why You’ll Love a Mac,” Get a Mac page, Apple website, apple.com/getamac/whymac (accessed January 30, 2009).

NOTES 2257. YouTube, “Macworld San Francisco 2006—The MacBook ProIntroduction,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=I6JWqllbhXE (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).8. Smithsonian Institution, “Oral History Interview with Steve Jobs,”Smithsonian Institution Oral and Video Histories—Steve Jobs, April20, 1995, http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/comphist/sj1.html(accessed January 30, 2009).Intermission: Obey the Ten-Minute Rule1. John Medina, Brain Rules (Seattle: Pear Press, 2008), 74.2. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).Scene 8: Channel Their Inner Zen1. Rob Walker, “The Guts of a New Machine,” New York Times, November 30,2003, nytimes.com/2003/11/30/magazine/30ipod.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5007&en=750c9021e58923d5&ex=1386133200 (accessed January 30,2009).2. Ibid.3. Nancy Duarte, Slide:ology (Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, 2008), 93.4.Gregory Berns, Iconoclast (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2008), 36.5. Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen (Berkeley: New Riders, 2008), 68.6. Ibid., 12.7. Carrie Kirby and Matthew Yi, “Apple Turns Thirty: The Man Behind theMac,” SF Gate, March 26, 2006, sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/03/26/mng7ehueq51.dtl (accessed January 30, 2009).8. Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen (Berkeley: New Riders, 2008), 113.9. Seth Godin’s Blog, “Nine Steps to PowerPoint Magic,” October 6, 2008,http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/nine-steps-to-p.html(accessed January 30, 2008).10. Leander Kahney, Inside Steve’s Brain (New York: Penguin Group, 2008), 61.11. Ibid., 60.12. Ibid., 131.13. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).14. Apple, “Apple Special Event September 2008,” Apple Pre–Holiday SeasonPresentation, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/letsfrock (accessed January 30,2009).15. Richard Mayer and Roxana Moreno, “A Cognitive Theory of MultimediaLearning: Implications for Design Principles,” University of California,

226 NOTESSanta Barbara, unm.edu/~moreno/pdfs/chi.pdf (accessed January 30,2009).16. BusinessWeek, “The Best Managers of 2008,” BusinessWeek.com slideshow, http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/01/0108_best_worst/14.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).17. Richard Mayer and Roxana Moreno, “A Cognitive Theory of MultimediaLearning: Implications for Design Principles,” University of California,Santa Barbara, unm.edu/~moreno/pdfs/chi.pdf (accessed January 30,2009).18. Ibid.19. Ibid.20. Apple, “Apple Special Event September 2008,” Apple Pre–Holiday SeasonPresentation, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/letsfrock (accessed January 30,2009).21. Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen (Berkeley: New Riders, 2008), 105.22. Nancy Duarte, Slide:ology (Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, 2008), 106.23. Wikipedia, “Picture Superiority Effect,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/picture_superiority_effect (accessed January 30, 2009).24. John Medina, Brain Rules (Seattle: Pear Press, 2008), 234.25. Ibid.26. YouTube, “WWDC 2008 Steve Jobs Keynote—iPhone 3G,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=40YW7Lco0og (accessed January 30, 2009).27. Apple, “WWDC 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08 (accessed January 30, 2009).28. Plain English Campaign, “Before and After,” section of site with beforeand-afterexamples, http://s190934979.websitehome.co.uk/examples/before_and_after.html (accessed January 30, 2009).29. Paul Arden, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be(London: Phaidon Press, 2003), 68.Scene 9: Dress Up Your Numbers1. YouTube, “Apple Music Event 2001—The First Ever iPod Introduction,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs&feature=related(accessed January 30, 2009).2. Jeff Goodell, “Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone,December 3, 2003, rollingstone.com/news/story/5939600/steve_jobs_the_rolling_stone_interview (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Apple, “WWDC 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08 (accessed January 30, 2009).4. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).

NOTES 2275. John Markoff, “Burned Once, Intel Prepares New Chip Fortifiedby Constant Tests,” New York Times, November 16, 2008, nytimes.com/2008/11/17/technology/companies/17chip.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=barton%20+%20intel%20&st=cse (accessed January30, 2009).6. IBM, “Fact Sheet and Background: Roadrunner Smashes the PetaflopBarrier,” IBM press release, June 9, 2008, -03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/24405.wss (accessed January 30, 2009).7. Scott Duke Harris, “What Could You Buy for $700 Billion?” San JoseMercury News, sec. E, October 5, 2008.8. ClimateCrisis.org, “What Is Global Warming?” ClimateCrisis website,http://climatecrisis.org (accessed January 30, 2009).9. Cornelia Dean, “Emissions Cut Won’t Bring Quick Relief,” New York Times,sec. A21, January 27, 2009.Scene 10: Use “Amazingly Zippy” Words1. Apple, “WWDC 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Brent Schlender and Christine Chen, “Steve Jobs’s Apple Gets WayCooler,” Fortune, January 24, 2000, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/01/24/272281/index.htm (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).3. UsingEnglish.com, “Text Content Analysis Tool,” usingenglish.com/resources/text-statistics.php (accessed January 30, 2009).4. Todd Bishop, “Bill Gates and Steve Jobs: Keynote Text Analysis,” TheMicrosoft Blog, January 14, 2007, http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/110473.asp (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Microsoft, “Bill Gates, Robbie Bach: 2007 International ConsumerElectronics Show (CES),” Microsoft Corporation, CES, Las Vegas, January 7,2007, microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/speeches/2007/01-07ces.mspx(accessed January 30, 2009).6. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).7. Apple, “What Is Apple’s Mission Statement?” Apple website: InvestorRelations: FAQs: Apple Corporate Information, apple.com/investor(accessed January 30, 2009).8. Carmine Gallo, Ten Simple Secrets of the World’s Greatest BusinessCommunicators (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2005), 116.9. Ibid., 116–117.10. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).

228 NOTES11. Jack Welch, Jack: Straight from the Gut (New York: Warner Books, 2001), 70.12. YouTube, “Apple Music Event 2001—The First Ever iPod Introduction,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs&feature=related(accessed January 30, 2009).13. YouTube, “Macworld San Francisco 2003—PowerBook 17” + 12” Intro(Pt. 1),” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=3iGTDE9XqJU (accessed January30, 2009).14. Ibid.15. YouTube, “Macworld SF 2003 Part 1,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=Xac6NWT7EKY (accessed January 30, 2009).16. Triumph of the Nerds, PBS documentary written and hosted by Robert X.Cringely (1996, New York).17. BusinessWeek, February 6, 2006, businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_06/b3970001.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).18. Apple, “Apple Introduces New iPod Touch,” Apple press release,September 9, 2008, apple.com/pr/library/2008/09/09touch.html(accessed January 30, 2009).19. YouTube, “Macworld San Francisco 2003—PowerBook 17” + 12” Intro (Pt.1),” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=3iGTDE9XqJU (accessed January 30,2009).20. Gregory Berns, Iconoclast (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2008), 36.Scene 11: Share the Stage1. YouTube, “Macworld San Francisco 2006—The MacBook ProIntroduction,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=I6JWqllbhXE (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).2. YouTube, “Macworld Boston 1997—The Microsoft Deal,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=WxOp5mBY9IY (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Apple, “Apple Special Event October 2008,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent1008 (accessed January 30, 2009).4. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Ibid.6. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).7. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).8. YouTube, “Noah Wyle as Steve—EpicEmpire.com,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=_KRO5Hxv_No (accessed January 30, 2009).

NOTES 229Scene 12: Stage Your Presentation with Props1. Apple, “Apple Special Event October 2008,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent1008 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Guy Kawasaki, The Macintosh Way (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), 149.3. Ibid.4. Ibid.5. Ibid.6. Ibid.7. Apple, “WWDC 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08 (accessed January 30, 2009).8. YouTube, “Macworld 2007—Part 4—Steve Jobs Demos theiPhone (Video),” YouTube, http://macblips.dailyradar.com/video/macworld_2007_part_4_steve_jobs_demos_the_iphone (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).9. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).10. YouTube, “Demo of PhotoBooth (From All About Steve),” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=h4Al6Mt4jQc (accessed January 30, 2009).11. YouTube, “Safari on Windows (WWDC 2007),” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=46DHMaCbdxc (accessed January 30, 2009).12. YouTube, “Steve Jobs Demos GarageBand,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=E03Bj2R749c (accessed January 30, 2009).13. YouTube, “Steve Jobs Introduces GarageBand 1.0 (Assisted by JohnMayer),” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=BVXWFgQvdLK (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).14. YouTube, “Apple WWDC—The Intel Switch Revealed,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=ghdTqnYnFYg (accessed January 30, 2009).Scene 13: Reveal a “Holy Shit” Moment1. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Sasha Cavender, “Thinnest Laptop: Fits into Manila Envelope,” ABC News,January 15, 2008, http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4138633 (accessedJanuary 30, 2009).3. YouTube, “Steve Jobs Showcases Macintosh 24-Jan-1984,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=4KkENSYkMgs (accessed January 30, 2009).4. John Medina, Brain Rules (Seattle: Pear Press, 2008), 81.5. YouTube, “Apple Music Event 2001—The First Ever iPod Introduction,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs&feature=related(accessed January 30, 2009).

230 NOTES6. YouTube, “Macworld San Francisco 2000, Steve Jobs Become iCEO ofApple,” YouTube, January 5, 2000, youtube.com/watch?v=JgHtKFuY3be(accessed January 30, 2009).7. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).Intermission 2: Schiller Learns from the Best1. Apple, “Macworld 2009 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/macworld-san-francisco-2009 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Slideshare, “Phil Schiller’s Mac World 2009 Keynote Address,” Slideshare,slideshare.net/kangaro10a/phil-schillers-mac-world-2009-keynote-presentation (accessed January 30, 2009).Scene 14: Master Stage Presence1. YouTube, “Macworld SF 2003 Part 1,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=Xac6NWT7EKY (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Dan Moren, “Stan Sigman Says Sayonara,” Macworld.com, October 12,2007, http://iphone.macworld.com/2007/10/stan_sigman_says_sayonara.php (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Gil Amelio, On the Firing Line: My Five Hundred Days at Apple (New York:Collins Business, 1999), 199.4. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).6. YouTube, “Apple Music Event 2001—The First Ever iPod Introduction,”YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs (accessed January 30,2009).7. Ibid.8. Albert Mehrabian, Silent Messages (Stamford, CT: Wadsworth, 1980).Scene 15: Make It Look Effortless1. BusinessWeek, “Steve Jobs’s Magic Kingdom,” BusinessWeek coverstory, February 6, 2006, businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_06/b3970001.htm (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Mike Evangelist, “Behind the Magic Curtain,” Guardian, for Guardian.co.uk, January 5, 2006, guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jan/05/newmedia.media1 (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Ibid.4. Ibid.

NOTES 2315. Michael Krantz, “Steve’s Two Jobs,” Time, October 18, 1999, time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992258-1,00.html (accessed January 30,2009).6. Ibid.7. Celia Sandys and Jonathan Littman, We Shall Not Fail (New York: PenguinGroup, 2003), 55.8. Alan Deutschman, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (New York: BroadwayBooks, 2001), 82.9. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008),39.10. Daniel Levitin, This Is Your Brain on Music (New York: Plume-Penguin,2007), 97.11. Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008),48.12. New York Times, “Senate Confirmation Hearing: Hillary Clinton,” January13, 2009, New York Times transcript, nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/politics/13text-clinton.html?pagewanted=all (accessed January 30, 2009).Scene 16: Wear the Appropriate Costume1. Alan Deutschman, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs (New York: BroadwayBooks, 2001), 22.Scene 17: Toss the Script1. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. Vanguard, ad on website, vanguard.com (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Spymac, “Steve’s Notes Closeup—Four Thousand Lattes to Go,” Spymac,January 11, 2007, spymac.com/details/?1793780 (accessed January 30,2009).4. Apple, “Macworld San Francisco 2007 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf07 (accessed January 30, 2009).Scene 18: Have Fun1. YouTube, “Apple WWDC 2002—The Death of Mac OS 9,” YouTube,youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7xQ8i3fc0&feature=playlist&p=72CF29777B67F776&playnext=1&index=9 (accessed January 30, 2009).2. YouTube, “Steve Jobs, TV Jammer Story,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=xiSBSXrQ8D0 (accessed January 30, 2009).3. Ibid.

232 NOTES4. YouTube, “Apple Bloopers,” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=AnVUvW42CUA (accessed January 30, 2009).5. Apple, “Macworld 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf08 (accessed January 30, 2009).6. Ibid.7. YouTube, “Apple Keynote Bloopers!!” YouTube, youtube.com/watch?v=KsKKQNZG3rE&feature=related (accessed January 30, 2009).8. Apple, “WWDC 2008 Keynote Address,” Apple, apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc08 (accessed January 30, 2009).9. YouTube, “Apple Announces iTunes for Windows,” YouTube, October 16,2003, youtube.com/watch?v=-YtR-DKDKiI (accessed January 30, 2009).10. Nick Mediati, “Jobs Has Been an Extraordinary Spokesman,” PC World,January 14, 2009, pcworld.com/article/157114/jobs_has_been_an_extraordinary_spokesman.html (accessed January 30, 2009).11. Bob Dylan, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Bringing It All Back Home, Sony, 1965.Encore: One More Thing1. Stanford University, “ ‘You’ve Got to Find What You Love,’ Jobs Says,”Stanford Report, June 14, 2005, Steve Jobs commencement address,delivered on June 12, 2005, http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html (accessed January 30, 2009).

INDEXI N D E XAdvertising, 36–37, 78–79app ads, 80hero-villain, 63–64iPod, 83–84 (See also iPod)iTunes, 83–84 (See also iTunes)selling an experience, 80–82simplicity, 90Altair, 30Amelio, Gil, 13, 167Analog, 3–14Analogies, 108–12, 122–25Anaphora, 217Angelou, Maya, 151Antagonists, 63–73big picture, 68–69religious dimension, 68storytelling tool, 71–73AOL, 212App Store, 80Apple Computers, 76, 102comprehensible technology, 87employees, 133–34market share, 106mission of, 68rumors, 145without Jobs, 213Worldwide Developers Conference,113 (See also WWDC[Worldwide DevelopersConference])Apple TV, 83–84, 157Apple II, 76Arden, Paul, 103Aristotle, 13Audiencegiving credit to, 134participation, 142rapport, 134, 199ten-minute rule, 83–84Auditory learners, 147badpitch.blogspot.com, 123Baig, Ed, 54, 133Ballmer, Steve, x, 45, 55–57Barton, John, 109Bashford, Wilkes, 196Berns, Gregory, 124Bishop, Todd, 114Black Hawk Down, 196Body language, 168–69, 170–73, 187eye contact, 170–71, 186–87gestures, 168–69, 172–73posture, 171–72Bourne, Scott, 169Brain, 83. See also CognitivefunctioningPost-it notes, 154variety and, 129Brain Rules (Medina), 68–69Brands, 68Branson, Richard, x, 212Brin, Sergey, 45Brokaw, Tom, 190Bucket method, 190–93233

234 INDEXBuckingham, Marcus, 32–33Built to Last: Successful Habits ofVisionary Companies (Collins andPorras), 30Bullet points, 4–5, 89. See alsoPowerPointnote taking, 89BusinessWeek, 179Buyology (Lindstrom), 68Buzzwords, 22–24, 117–18, 123Case studies, 132CD players, 77Chambers, John, xvi, 148, 175Charan, Ram, 56Charisma, 34. See also Jobs, Stevedefinition, xiChurchill, Winston, 182Cisco Systems, 20, 148ClimateCrisis.org, 111Clinton, Hillary, 190Clow, Lee, 34Clutter elimination, 89–90CNBC, 67–68Cognitive functioning, 83, 88, 92Coherence principle, 94–95Collins, Jim, 30Comfort zones, 188Consumer Electronics Show, 55, 185Contiguity principle, 94Costume, 195–97Cranium, 124–25Customers. See also Audienceconcernsquestion that matters, 15–25scenarios, 18–19selling the benefit, 20–21giving credit to, 134testimonials, 132Da Vinci, Leonardo, 87, 103Deliberative practice, 181–82DEMO, 70–71Demonstrations, 138–40, 138–44. Seealso PresentationsDesign, 35–36mobile computers, 129–30presentation design, xiii, 3slide design, 59–60, 88–89, 88–92,100–101Deutsch, Donny, xivDeutschman, Alan, xvi, 28, 37Diet, 111–12Drucker, Peter, xiiiDuarte, Nancy, xi, 3, 97DuPont, 56Dylan, Bob, 213EDGE, 106, 139, 140Einstein, Albert, 102Employees, crediting, 133–34Energy, 187–88Environmental issues, 71–73, 102,110–11Ericsson, K. Anders, 181Evangelist, Mike, 180Eversmann, Matt, 196Experience, delivering, 85–104channeling inner Zen, 87–104“holy shit” moments, 151–60partners on stage, 127–35props, 137–49statistics, 105–12zippy words, 113–25Eye contact, 170–71, 186–87Feedback, 189Fleiss, Kevin, 70–71Fortt, Jon, xFortune magazine, 113Fun demonstrations, 141–44, 207–13bloopers, 208–11infotainment, 211–133G, 140GarageBand, 42, 145–46Gardner, Chris, 29–30Gates, Bill, 31–32, 45, 128language complexity, 114–17Gestures, 168–69, 172–73Gianopulos, Jim, 130–31Gladwell, Malcolm, 30–31, 179,182–83Godin, Seth, 89Goldman, Jim, 67–68Golf, 52Goodell, Jeff, 106Google, 45, 69Google Maps, 141Gore, Al, xi, 71–73, 111Gretzky, Wayne, 37Grubb, Jim, 148Guardian, 180Guest speakers. See Partners on stageHarris, Scott, 110Headlines, twitter-like, 39–47, 161, 218GarageBand, 42iMac, 42–43iPhone, 41–42

INDEX 235iPod, 43–44MacBook Air, 39–40Hero, 75–86mission, 76–78Hodgman, John, 78–79Hofmann, Hans, 90Holliday, Chad, 56“Holy shit” moments, 151–60, 163bombshells, 155–57memorable stories, 156one theme, 154–55revolutionary products, 157–60Hyperbole, 122IBM, 64, 75–76, 109–10IBM-Motorola PowerPC, 146IDG World Expo, ixiDVD, 180iLife suite, 145iMac, 15, 42–43, 181, 199iMac G5, xivImprovisation, 199–206Inconvenient Truth, An, xi, 71–73Inside Steve’s Brain (Kahney), 13, 90Inspiration, xviIntel processor, 16–17, 54, 81, 127–28,146–48, 199, 201Internet Explorer, 69Introductions, 17, 20iPhone, 41–42, 49–51, 53, 64–67, 106,113, 140–41, 149, 157–60, 184,205data transfers, 106market share, 107–83G, 98–99, 106, 113iPod, xiv, 34, 43–44, 49–51, 53, 77,105, 155advertising, 83–84simplicity, 87slogan, 105storage, 107iTunes, xv, 53, 212advertising, 83–84films, 130–31Ive, Jony, 87, 129–30Jargon, 113, 117–20, 122Jobs, Steve, 37–38, 199. See also Specifictopicsbloopers, 208–11body language, 168–69, 170–73CEO announcement, 155–57charisma, xi, 34, 167dressing style of, 195–97explaining statistics, 105–9generational considerations,30–31health issues, x, 211, 212, 215keynote presentations, x, xii, 64–67,90–91, 93, 96–97, 131, 137,144–45, 157–59, 180–81language complexity, 114–17motivation, 30, 33quotations, 15, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32,34, 35–36, 39, 46, 49, 63, 81,105, 113, 121, 195, 199, 215Stanford University commencementspeech, 215–18Jukebox player, 77–78Kahney, Leander, 13, 28, 90, 137Kanso, 89Kawasaki, Guy, 24, 138–40Kelleher, Herb, 5Kennedy, John F., 58Kessler, Michelle, 54Keynote software, 12, 44–47, 89, 204Kinesthetic learners, 147Kinesthetics, 137–38King, Rollin, 5Kissinger, Henry, 193Krantz, Michael, 181Langberg, Mike, 78Language issuesanalogies, 108–12, 122–25concrete language, 118, 121emotional language, 118, 121filler words, 187, 189jargon, 113, 117–20, 122language complexity, 114–17plain English, 102–4, 114–17simplicity, 118–20, 121speaking style, 173–76vocal delivery, 187zippy words, 113–25Leadership, 33, 176–77, 192–93simplicity, 94Leadership in the Era of EconomicUncertainty (Charan), 56Learners, types of, 147Leopard, 57, 131–33, 144“Let’s Rock” presentation, 93, 96–97Lindstrom, Martin, 68Long, Justin, 78–79Lyons, Daniel, xMac OS 9, 207–8Mac OS X, 207–8. See also OS Xoperating system

236 INDEXMacBook Air, 31, 39–40, 98–100,151–52, 199MacBook laptops, 129–30MacBook Pro, 80MacBooks, 12aluminum frame, 129–30,137–38Macintosh, 50–53, 153–54advertising, 63–64, 78–79Macintosh Way, The (Kawasaki),138–40Macworld Expo, ix, x, 57, 83, 90–91,107, 127, 134, 140–41, 157–60,161, 167, 180, 184, 199, 205Macworld magazine, 196Madonna, 10Maps, 205Marketing, 40case studies, 132product launch, 152–54, 179selling an experience, 80–82as theater, 3Markoff, John, 31Marsalis, Wynton, xvMayer, John, 146Mayer, Marissa, 179Mayer, Richard, 92–95McNeill, David, 172Media, 131–33, 137Medina, John, 68–69, 83, 91, 154Mehrabian, Albert, 176–77Mendelson, Ed, 133Microsoft Internet Explorer, 128Microsoft Office, 129Miller, George, 51Mission, 68, 76–78. See also Purposestatements, 118Montemagno, Marco, 142–43Mossberg, Walt, 8–9, 32, 133MP3 CD player, 77Multimedia presentation principle,92–97Music, 77, 212. See also iPod; iTunesNapkin test, 5National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration (NOAA), 111Netscape, 69Networks, 142–43New York Times, 109, 133, 155NeXt, 195, 196Note taking, 89notes as cue cards, 199using notes, 204–6Numbers. See StatisticsObama, Barack, 58–59, 177Odyssey (Sculley), 27Off-the-cuff remarks, 188–93Online meetings, 144Orman, Suze, xvi, 119OS X operating system, 113, 131–33,144, 146–48, 207–8Osteen, Joel, 204Otellini, Paul, 127–28, 132Outliers (Gladwell), 30, 182Page, Larry, 45Partners on stage, 127–35, 142–43,162Gates, Bill, 128Gianopulos, Jim, 130–31Ive, Jony, 129–30Mayer, John, 146Otellini, Paul, 127–28teenagers, 146Wyle, Noah, 134–35Passion, 32–34, 35PC magazine, 133PC World, 213Persuasive argument, 13Petaflop, 109–10Phelps, Michael, 193–94Photo Booth, 143–44Photography, 97–100, 143–44Picture superiority effect (PSE),97–98Pirates of Silicon Valley, 134–35Pitches, 123Pixar, 156–57Pogue, David, 123, 133Porras, Jerry, 30Posture, 171–72Pour Your Heart into It (Schultz), 35Powell, Lauren, 89PowerPoint, 89bullet points, 4–5, 89Presentation design, xiiion paper, 3Presentation Zen (Reynolds), 3Presentations. See also Refine andrehearsecompared to plays, xiv–xvas experience, 85–104importance of, xi“one more thing,” 215–18preparation time, 3–4recordings, 189–90techniques, xiiiten-minute rule, 83–84time limits, 70–71

INDEX 237Press releases, 22–24Problem articulation, 70–71, 80. Seealso AntagonistsProps, 137–49, 162demonstrations, 138–44focusing, 144–46kinesthetics, 137–38surprise element, 146–49Public relations pitches, 123Purpose, 27–38, 68Pursuit of Happyness, The, 29Ray, Rachael, 188Red Hot Chili Peppers, 149Refine and rehearse, 165–66bucket method, 190–93case study, 185deliberative practice, 181–82effortlessness, 179–94feedback, 189off-the-cuff remarks, 188–93recordings, 189–90stage fright, 193–94stage presence, 167–78tap-the-glass technique,189–90ten-thousand-hours theory,182–84videos, 185–87Reynolds, Garr, 3, 89Road map, 49–62, 161–62as agenda, 57–60rule of three, 51–62Roadrunner, 109–10Robbins, Tony, 188Rolling Stone, 34, 106Rule of three, 50, 51–57, 216application, 60–62Safari, 69, 144–45San Jose Mercury, 110SanDisk, 108–9Schiller, Phil, x, 149, 161–63Schultz, Howard, xvi, 35Scott, Ridley, 63–64Scripts, 199–206key words, 202preparing, 202–4Sculley, John, 3, 27–28, 33Seattle Post Intelligencer, 114Second Coming of Steve Jobs(Deutschman), xvi, 37, 182Sigman, Stan, 167–70Silent Messages (Mehrabian), 176Simon, William, 89Simplicity, 87–88advertising, 90Buddhism, 89demonstrations, 139language, 118–20leadership, 94slide design, 88–89“Simpsons, The,” 195Singh, Vijay, 1936 GB hard-drive player, 78Slide:ology, xiSlides, 140, 162–63cluttered, 100–101coherence principle, 94–95contiguity principle, 94design, 59–60, 88–92, 100–101multimedia presentation principle,92–94number of words, 91one theme per slide, 200–201perfecting, 182pictures, 97–100prompts, 203resources, 104simplicity, 59–60, 88–92,100–101split-attention principle, 94white space, 97Smith, Will, 29Solomon, Susan, 111Sorenson, Ted, 58Southwest Airlines, 5Speaking style, 173–76conversational, 199inflection, 174pauses, 174–76rate, 176tap-the-glass technique,189–90volume, 176Speechwriting, 58–59Spielberg, Steven, 159–60Split-attention principle, 94Stage fright, 193–94Stage presence, 167–78Stanford University commencementspeech, 215–18Starbucks, 141, 143, 205Statistics, 105–12, 162analogies and, 108–12contextual, 107–12relevant, 107–12specificity, 107–12Stein, Ben, 178“Stevenotes,” x

238 INDEXStory creation, 1–14. See alsoExperience, deliveringanalog, 3–14analogies, 7–9 (See also Analogies)antagonists, 63–73customer evidence, 10demonstrations, 9emotional stories, 156 (See alsoLanguage issues)endorsements, 10flip charts, 12–13headlines, 6–7, 39–47hero, 75–86key messages, 7metaphors, 7–9narrative, 4–5partners, 10 (See also Partners onstage)passion statement, 7props, 12–13purpose, 27–38road map, 49–62scenes, 1–2scripting, 6, 12–13show-and-tell, 12–13video clips, 10–12Swisher, Kara, 32Tait, Richard, 5, 124–25TechCrunch 50, 70–71Ten-minute rule, 83–84Tesler, Larry, 36“Think Different” ad campaign,36–37Time magazine, 181Titles, business, 124–25TravelMuse, 70–71Tribble, Bud, 28Triumph of the Nerds, 30Trump, Donald, 32Twitter. See Headlines, twitter-likeU.S. government bailout,110USA Today, 54, 95, 133UsingEnglish.com, 114Vais, Paul, 182Valvano, Jimmy, 61Van Der Veer, Jeroen, 94Vance, Ashlee, 20Video rehearsals, 185–87Virtualization, 20Vision, xvi–xvii, 68. See alsoPurposeVisual learners, 147Visual thinking, 13Walker, Diana, 90Wall Street Journal, 133Washington Monument, 205Webcam, 81Weber, Max, xiWelch, Jack, x, 120White space, 97Windows 7, 54Winfrey, Oprah, 33Wozniak, Steve, xvi, 208–9, 212Wu, Shaw, 213WWDC (Worldwide DevelopersConference), 53, 98–100, 113,140, 144, 146, 211Wyle, Noah, 134–35Young, Jeffrey, 89YouTube, x, 132, 142commencement speeches,215–18Zen Buddhism, 89Zen, inner, 87–104Zimmer, George, 196Zippy words, 113–25